Deviant Week
by HiroandDashi
Summary: Being attacked by a kaiju? Getting genderswapped? Accidentally turning your younger sibling back into a toddler? It's all just another week in the life of the Hamada brothers. (Pre-BH 6 Tadashi and Hiro fun and brotherly fluff! Rated T for brief self harm and mild language.)
1. Chapter 1

**Tadashi:** Hey guys! Welcome to our story, Deviant Week. This was probably one of the craziest weeks the two of us have ever been through together, and also arguably either the best or the worst. But, before I get ahead of myself, I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Tadashi-Tadashi Hamada.

 **Hiro:** And I'm Hiro! Yea, this week was...pretty interesting. We came up with some pretty epic inventions, though, and we really wanted to share them. Dashi over here though also insisted on sharing all the mushy gushy emotional stuff (I'm still not sure we should...) and so here we are!

 **Tadashi:** Sorry, Hiro, a story isn't complete without all of the detail being in it! Anyways, we really hope that you guys enjoy our story. And now, without further ado, Deviant Week!

0o0

Hiro Hamada was exhausted after a long night of bot fighting. There had been some pretty intense moments-he definitely had a new bruise or two that he'd have to figure out how to hide from his older brother, Tadashi-but he'd gotten a lot of cash though which made the whole experience worth it. As he walked by the lake in the park, though, he noticed something odd-there was someone in the water.

"Hello?" Hiro called, curious. What on earth was someone doing, going swimming so late?

"Help! Help! Someone please!" a voice screamed from the lake, although it was too dark to see them very well.

"What's wrong?" Hiro shouted trying to see through the darkness

"Help! I can't swim! Help!"

Hiro's first instinct was to run into the lake to help the person, but Tadashi's voice filled his head. _Slow down, knucklehead,_ it said. _There is no way you'd be able to drag whoever this is out of the water on your own. You're way too small!_ Well, all right, if he couldn't do it on his own, Hiro needed to find something to help pull this person out of the water. He quickly spotted a rope nearby, probably left over from some child's game of tug-o-war. It wasn't perfect, but it was his only option at the moment.

"Here!" Hiro cries, tossing the end towards the stranger. "Grab hold!" The person reached to take it but then suddenly disappeared beneath the surface.

Hiro started to panic when the person went under. Did he completely ignore all of Tasdashi's warnings about getting in the water with a drowning person, or did he leave this poor person to a watery grave? Growling in frustration, he threw caution to the wind and ran into the lake, desperately searching the dark water for any sign of someone. But, oddly enough, where before there had been a splashing, struggling body, there was nothing-no one in sight. And then when the boy was waist deep something tangled on his ankle.

Hiro thrashed, trying to get away from whatever was tangled around his legs, completely forgetting about the person he was trying to save. _I should have listened to Tadashi..._ he thought desperately, realizing that he'd been caught in some sort of trap.

Just as he came to this conclusion, the horrible thing around his ankle dragged further out of his depth towards the center of the lake.

 _I'm going to die..._ Hiro thought with a sinking feeling in his chest. _This person is going to make me drown..._

Darkness surrounded him the deeper he got, yet there was strange cackling. He fervently wished Tadashi would come and make one of his last minute rescues…

0o0

Tadashi, who'd been lying on his bed studying, suddenly jerks up as he hears the alarm on his phone going off. It was linked to the tracking app he had for Hiro, and it went off any time that his little brother went somewhere that he had deemed dangerous, including the rougher parts of the city. Lately it had been going off a lot, and Tadashi was beginning to worry that his brother was involved in something that he really shouldn't be. There was no time to think about that now. Instead, he grabs his blazer from off of the bedside table and rushes down the stairs. Out in the back alley, he hops onto _Bae_ , his motor scooter, and takes off. Following the map on his phone, he starts towards the destination where Hiro was currently at. When he was most of the way there, the little dot started moving and he was forced to course correct towards the city park. Before long, he sees his little brother walking near the pond, and he pulls up short, parking his bike near a light pole. What was Hiro doing out in the park in the middle of the night? Surely the parents of the friend that he was supposed to have been visiting could have driven him home. How irresponsible of them to let a kid Hiro's age walk home by himself! Before he even gets a chance to call out to Hiro, though, for some reason his brother suddenly starts wading into the pond. "What the hay?" Tadashi wonders, too frozen with shock to try to stop him. And then, suddenly, Hiro goes under and Tadashi lets out a cry of alarm. Someone or something was trying to drown his brother! Fortunately his instincts finally kick in and he races towards the lake, but not before grabbing the small knife that he keeps for emergency protection from out of his bag. Head first he dives into the lake, piercing the water with the skill of someone who had spent hours playing personal life guard for Hiro at the community pool. It's dark in the water, but he still manages to spot Hiro. Unfortunately, he also catches sight of some sort of weird, twisted octopus-like creature with its tentacles wrapped around the small frame. It reminds him of one of the kaiju monsters he had been a fan of when he was little, but now it filled him with terror. Still, he can't turn back now. He would put his own life on the line if it meant protecting Hiro, and he was prepared to do just that tonight. Kicking as hard as he can, he speeds through the water until he's close enough to grab Hiro's hand. Once he makes sure that he has a firm grasp on his brother, he pulls out the knife and starts attacking the tentacle that's wrapped around the tiny frame.

Hiro could have cried out of joy when he saw Tadashi dive into the water. How Tadashi always managed to find him when he was in trouble he would never know, but right now more than ever he was extremely grateful for it. He felt the tentacle loosen momentarily when Tadashi hit it with his dagger, and Hiro wasted no time in kicking it off of him.

Tadashi feels relief as Hiro pulls free and starts scissor kicking towards the surface, dragging his little bro along with him.

Hiro desperately gulped air once they broke the surface. He wanted to thank Tadashi for saving him, but he knew that right now they needed to concentrate on getting out of the water and fast. He desperately started swimming towards the shore, weakly trying to pull his brother with him, but Tadashi, a lot stronger than the younger, ends up dog paddling along, dragging Hiro, until they reach the shore and he slings the younger over his shoulders like a soggy sack of potatoes. "Come on, we need to get out of here _NOW_!" Tadashi cries, heading towards Bae and wanting to put as much distance between the two of them and the pond as possible.

Hiro was too tired to protest being gracelessly flung over his brother shoulder like a doll. He weakly tried to scan the darkness to see if that thing was following them, but he could barely keep his eyes open. And then, suddenly, the wooden pier began to crack beneath them, catching up fast on Tadashi's heels. "T-T-Tadashi!" Hiro weakly stammered, watching in fear as the pier crumbled.

"Hang on!" Tadashi cries, taking notice of the danger and making a leap for the dry land. A pair of tentacles surfaced in an attempt to snatch them back into the miry depths, but missed the boys just by a nose hair. The two crashed onto the land, Hiro letting out a grunt of pain as they landed. There was no time for a respite, however. The tentacles reached out of the water to snatch them so Tadashi picked Hiro up again and started running towards his moped.

"Get on!" Tadashi says as soon as they reach the bike, unceremoniously dumping Hiro onto the seat while trying to simultaneously mount up himself and put the keys in the ignition. Before he could successfully do either of these things, however, with an angry screech the creature came out of lake and latched its tentacles onto the back wheel.

"Oh my gosh!" Tadashi cries in terror, more concerned for Hiro's safety than for his own. He finally manages to get the key into the ignition and floors the gas, trying to gain enough momentum to break free of the tentacle's grasp.

Wanting to help, Hiro whipped out Megabot, his fighting bot, and its remote, sending the bot onto the tentacles that had wrapped around the wheel. It attacked visciously, and soon the tentacles are forced to let go. Writhing in pain, the tentacles finally released and, released from its constraints, the bike lunges forward. As they two boy drove away, however, a dark voice echoed in their minds, like nails over a black board: _"You may have escape this time...but next time you won't be so lucky"_

Feeling intense anger at the being who had almost killed Hiro, Tadashi finds his mouth opening and himself shouting back in Japanese, what he would never have dared to in English, but meaning it with all of his heart, "Ima made watashi no musuko ni te o furenaide kudasai! (Do not ever touch my son!)"

Wait, what? Had he just called Hiro his son? That made absolutely no sense. Hiro was his brother, not his kid! Still, he doesn't have time to think about the odd choice of words as he feels Hiro trembling against his back, tightly clinging to him like a lifeline. "It's okay, _otouto_ ," Tadashi says, trying his best to soothe his little brother as he speeds out of the park, reaching back to rub the boy's back. "You're going to be okay now. I've got you. Dashi's got you."

Hiro barely registered Tadashi's words, tightening his grip around his brother and trying to calm himself down. He refused to loosen his grip even when they were blocks away from the park.

"I'm sorry..." He finally whimpered, burying his head in Tadashi back.

"It's not your fault," Tadashi reassures him, wishing that he could stop to properly comfort his brother but wanting to put as much distance between them and the park as possible. "I'm just can't believe that your friend's parents would let you walk home on your own!"

"It is..." Hiro whimpered. "I-I heard someone in the water asking for help... I-I threw a rope but they went under... I-I w-w-was so s-s-stupid!" He tried to fight back tears but failed, grateful his brother's clothes where already soaked so he wouldn't feel the tears. "I-I-I-I can't believe I-I-I f-f-fell for it..." He would never go near water again— _ever_. The mere thought of doing so made him start trembling uncontrollably and bury his face in Tadashi's back once again, trying desperately just to feel _safe_.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tadashi can't put up with this for a moment longer and he pulls off to the side of the street. Once he's sure that the bike is properly parked, he turns back around to address his _otouto_. "Hiro, you did absolutely nothing wrong!" he says firmly. "You were trying to save someone who you thought was in danger, even at the risk of your own safety. That isn't something to be ashamed of, that's something to be proud of! I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I am right now."

Hiro flung himself at Tadashi and whispered, "Thank you for always being there..." He wasn't sure if his shaking was from the fear or from the cold, but he didn't care. Tadashi made him feel safe. He wished they were off the streets though, Hiro didn't want to think about what other horrors hid in the shadows.

"Hey, I'll always be there for you," Tadashi reassures him, gently caressing his brother's hair. Then, realizing just how much Hiro's shivering, he adds, "Now come on, let's get you home, okay?"

Hiro nodded his head and they were off. Even with the promise of home, the younger boy was still trembling and his fingers were taking on a slight blue tinge from being exposed to the cold for so long. "What if…what if that thing comes back?" Hiro asked, voice wobbling slightly with fright.

"If it does, we'll be ready for it," Tadashi replies firmly. Honestly, he doesn't have much of a plan for if that creature does reappear, but he knows he'll do whatever it takes to protect his little brother. About ten minutes later, they arrive at the café and Tadashi parks around back. Then, not caring how weird it might be, picks Hiro up bridal-style and carries him up to the back door that leads into the kitchen. "Here we are," he tells Hiro with a satisfied smile, setting the little boy down on a chair before heading back to make sure that the door's locked good and tight (he makes a mental note to looking into getting deadbolts for all of the doors and windows-the ones that he hasn't already done so, that is.) "Now, how does some of my world famous hot chocolate sound?" he asks, turning back to his brother and trying to sound as chipper as possible.

Hiro wanted to complain about being carried like a baby, but he was just so tired he didn't have the energy to care.

"Warm..." Hiro muttered in answer to Tadashi's questions, wrapping his arms around himself to try to warm up some and wondering how Tadashi wasn't freezing. "And really good..."

Tadashi was secretly freezing, but he'd learned over the years how to hide signs of physical discomfort or pain on his own part from Hiro. He didn't need his little bro to be worried about him when he needed to be more worried about himself. "Here you go," he says a few minutes later, sliding a mug of the warm drink onto the table in front of Hiro. "You drink that, and I'll be back in a minute with a blanket and some dry clothes for you, okay?"

"That's nii-chan" Hiro whispered, gratefully drinking the hot cocoa. It was just as good as he remembered. He hoped Tadashi would be back soon, though. The hot cocoa was helping, but his freezing clothes where making him freeze him at all.

Tadashi feels guilty for taking the time to get dressed in dry clothing before returning to Hiro, but it won't do either of them any good if he gets a cold and isn't able to take care of his little brother. So he quickly changes and then heads back downstairs, loaded for bear with a thick stack of blankets and some warm clothes for Hiro. "Here we are!" he announces as cheerfully as he can, hoping that Hiro hadn't gotten sick during the time that he was gone. Locking the kitchen door behind him, he brings the fresh garments over to Hiro and starts undressing him like he would have if he were five. "C'mon, let's get you out of those wet things," he says, soothingly rubbing Hiro's back as he pulls the soaking t shirt off over his head

Hiro didn't fight as Tadashi pulled his wet shirt off, but right after that he grabbed the clothes Tadashi brought and shuffled into the bathroom to put them on. He was freezing but he wasn't comfortable changing in front of his brother. He quickly pulls of the soaked clothing and dries himself off before pulling on the warmer clothes. He sighed with relief once they were on and he was finally dry. Dumping the clothes into the hamper, he shuffled back into the kitchen and wrapped a blanket around himself. Then, trying to warm himself some more, he latches onto Tadashi, enjoying the feeling of the warmth radiating from his niisan's body.

"Is my little man feeling better?" Tadashi asks, snuggling Hiro up close and trying to warm him as best he can. It concerns him that Hiro's little hands still feel like ice, but he's able to relax slightly when he feels them slowly but surely growing warmer.

"I'm not a little man," Hiro grumbled, trying to pull away from his brother only for Tadashi to tighten his grip around Hiro. He hated how sappy his niisan was getting, but then the image of the tentacles trying to drag him into the lake to his watery death flashed through his mind and caused him to shudder involuntarily. What was that thing? What did it want?

Tadashi feels the shudder and looks down at Hiro. "Hey, you okay?" he asks, feeling worried.

"I know it's stupid but... I'm a little freaked out by the whole thing... I really thought I heard someone calling for help..." Hiro admits.

"I don't know who or what that was," Tadashi answers carefully, hating that he has to lie but not wanting to scare Hiro any further and so trying to downplay the terror that he'd felt himself. He'd heard rumors recently—strange creatures showing up around the city, rumored to be the escaped experiments of one of the many genetic labs that San Fransokyo housed. It was a terrifying thought, to be sure—but there was no need to put those horrifying ideas into the mind of his impressionable younger brother, and so he just continues more mildly, "But you know as much as I do that there are some really messed up people out there who just take pleasure in hurting others. That's why I tell you to stay away from some parts of the city where there are people like that. As long as I'm with you, I'll be there to protect you from those guys." This was the truth—he would always be there to keep Hiro safe if at all possible. However, now seemed as good a time as any to hammer a warning into his adventurous otouto's head. "But from now on, especially when you're out on your own, I want you to promise me that you be out this late at night or go to those dangerous places, all right?"

Hiro frowned slightly, unsure of what to say. Most of his bot fights were in the bad parts of town, but tonight's events had shaken him up pretty badly. He didn't want to stop bot fighting completely, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a break.

"Ok..." he finally mumbled, hating himself even more for not being completely honest with his brother.

"Good." Tadashi hugs his little brother even closer, glad that they'd been able to have this talk. He'd been worried recently about Hiro's tendency to go into dangerous parts of the city, but he knew he could trust Hiro to be good to his word and so for now he could stop stressing out at least a little bit. Of course he'd never fully stop worrying about his brother, but this was at least a temporary reprieve.

Hiro hated to think about what Tadashi would say when he found out what he was truly up to. But there was no way that he could ever stop. Nothing else presented a challenge or held any interest for him-what else was there for him to do?

A thought strikes Tadashi as he remembers where Hiro was supposed to have been that evening. "Hiro," he begins slowly, "about school-you're doing okay there, right? I mean, things are getting better since you're actually going to visit friends and everything, right?"

Hiro tensed slightly, uncertain as to what to do. A part of him wanted to lie and say everything was ok, but another part was sick of the lies and trying to act like he was ok. Maybe he could twist it so he didn't have to tell him _everything_ but it all didn't have to be a lie.

"I thought so..." he admitted. "But... well... we got into a fight... I realized they were just friends with me so that I'd do their homework. That's why I decided to walk home alone. I was just so upset I wanted to clear my head." For the most part, this tale was true. Hiro had made some friends recently—or he thought that he had. More and more of late, though, his so called "friends" asked him for help on their work which soon turned into them just copying everything he did to eventually them telling Hiro that he to do their work or they wouldn't be friends anymore. Hiro had been furious when this had happened and had started to purposefully mess up their work so they'd fail. He'd gotten a royal beating for pulling that stunt, but he didn't regret it.

"Oh my gosh, Hiro, I am so sorry!" Tadashi gasps, his arms instinctively moving to a more protective position around Hiro's tiny frame even though there was no immediate threat. He hadn't realized how bad things had been getting for his little bro since he'd graduated. "Have you gone to any of your teachers or the school administration about this?"

"Yea..." Hiro admitted. "They didn't believe me, though... I'm 'too young to be smart enough for people to want to cheat off of me'," Hiro spat, giving a sarcastic impression of the very thing he'd been told time and time again by the adults he'd sought out for help and feeling sick. Why did no one take him seriously just because he was younger than everyone?

"What the flamin' hay-?! Oh, that is so wrong!" Tadashi cries, instantly feeling an intense anger overtake him. Usually he didn't allow himself to get worked up about anything, but if it involved his brother, well, whoever was responsible for the suffering had better pray for mercy. "Seriously, I think I'm going to go down there and speak to those teachers myself," he finally growls. As Tadashi Hamada, straight-A student with an absolutely perfect record, he'd gained quite a positive reputation with the school faculty. He might be able to have some pull in making sure that people actually started believing Hiro.

"No!" Hiro shouted, fear filling his chest. "What if that only makes things worse?" People hated him enough as it was. He didn't need the added weight of being a tattle-tale. He'd rather avoid making any friends and only get teased for being smart than have the school force people to be nice to him and be hated even more.

Tadashi knows that tone of voice-it's the same one he'd used himself so many times when Aunt Cass had questioned him about his own struggles with bullies at school and he hadn't wanted her to know just how bad things had been. True, at least he'd had the teachers on his side so it wasn't quite as horrible as what Hiro's experiencing, but he knows enough to understand why Hiro wouldn't want him to go to the teachers. "All right," he agrees quietly, softly stroking Hiro's hair. "I won't do anything that you don't want me to do. But tell me-why didn't you come to me sooner?"

"Thanks..." Hiro mumbled. "I-I guess I was embarrassed. You had it so good in school and I... well I can't make any real friends..." He hated knowing his brother was so much better than him in every way, even socially. Tadashi had been popular at school and everyone respected him, unlike Hiro who was always laughed at and teased.

"Hey, I know how you feel," Tadashi admits with a slight grin. Seeing Hiro's disbelieving expression, he adds, "No, I'm serious! I bet you didn't know this, but I actually got bullied a lot back when I was in school too."

"No way!" Hiro exclaimed unable to believe it. There was no way he had been bullied, his brother was loved by everyone! "But... you have so many friends..."

"Friends?" Tadashi raises an amused eyebrow. "Yeah right. Posers, maybe. Seriously, I went through exactly the same thing as you did-everyone wanted me to 'help' them with their homework or to try to help them get away with stuff that the teachers normally wouldn't let them do but might let slide because I was the 'teachers' pet'. When I wouldn't, people would turn on me. No one ever noticed because they found very good ways of hiding what they were doing and I guess they were too scared to try to actually try to beat me up. But believe me, I got more hate letters stuffed in my locker and pencil leads jabbed in my back than I care to admit." He winces slightly at the memory. "I've still got a few scars from that. And did you ever wonder why I was forever staying after classes to work with teachers on extra credit and projects? That was my form of protection-of escape. I was safe as long as I was with the teachers, and honestly, I felt like I was in a lot better company with them. I mean, do you know what it's like being the only kid who was actually _excited_ to go to college or who read _Callaghan's Laws of Robotics_ for the fun of it? Even if the others had actually liked me, I wouldn't have known how to interact with them. I was one of the most socially awkward nerds to ever walk the halls of SFHS!"

"Really?" Hiro asked, amazed. "I guess all anyone will ever see us as is a quick way to get an A..." He sighs before continuing, "Consider yourself lucky-people don't hesitate the use me as their punching bag. Not that the teachers care, even if they do know. They actually hope that I'll realize how silly I'm being and want to go back to elementary school where I belong..."

"Ugh, that seriously ticks me off." Tadashi puts his head in his hands. "It is so stinkin' wrong. You have as much a right to be in high school as anyone else-more, actually. You've got five times the brains of any of those doofuses. And it's good to know that the teacher's I looked up to were just as bad as the rest of the school. I'm guessing that they were probably just using me to look good for the school board, huh?"

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised," Hiro sighed. "But…you really think I'm that much smarter than the other kids?"

"Are you kidding me?" Tadashi gives him an incredulous look. "You were reading the encyclopedia when I was just starting on chapter books! You were solving problems that had been stumping the world's top mathematicians when I was still trying to figure out how to multiplication! Hiro, you are brilliant, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!" He ruffles his little brother's hair before adding, "Oh, and for the record, you are amazing just the way that you are, and I wouldn't change a thing about you for the world."

Hiro ducked his head, a blush creeping up on his face. "I, uh... Thanks nii-chan. And I think you're great the way that you are too..."

"Aw, is someone getting embarrassed?" Tadashi teases with a slight smile.

"You're being a dork..." Hiro mumbled, face getting even redder. He loved his brother, but he was so embarrassing sometimes.

"Hey, for the record, I prefer 'nerd'," Tadashi replies, starting to tickle the boy behind his left ear where he knew the boy to be extremely ticklish.

"Cut it out, 'nerd'!" Hiro exclaimed, trying to squirm away from his brother who continued to tickle him mercilessly.

"But I love you," Tadashi responds, being over-the-top dramatic, squeezing Hiro closer like he's trying to hold onto a squirming fish.

Hiro sighed in defeat, knowing he'd not be able to escape until Tadashi was satisfied. If he was honest with himself, he really could use some sort of comfort after nearly getting drowned, so he wrapped his arms around Tadashi, tightly hugging him back.

Tadashi never knows exactly what to expect whenever Hiro actually hugs him. Sometimes it's relief. Sometimes it brings painful memories and feelings. Sometimes it's pure joy. Other times, though, he just freezes, not sure what to do. That's what happens this time. Maybe it's just that he wasn't expecting this hug after all of the banter they'd just had. Maybe it was the sudden clashing of two walls of feelings that met with such power that they almost canceled each other out so that for a moment Tadashi is left with absolutely no strength or even will to move in his whole body. But then, slowly but surely, he's finally given back control of his faculties, and he begins gently stroking Hiro's hair and softly singing one of their favorite songs: " _Aloha `oe, aloha `oe, e ke onaona noho i ka lipo..._ "

Hiro smirks slightly when he hears Tadashi softly singing. _Lilo and Stitch_ had always been their favorite movie, and Tadashi would always get extremely emotional during the scene with Nani singing to Lilo, which was why he knew the lyrics so well. The younger of the two boys rolled his eyes and let himself enjoy his brother's soft singing before fondly whispering when he was finished, "You're such a nerd..."

"Well, I'm your nerd," Tadashi responds playfully, ruffling his hair again just for the sake of getting to feel it.

"That's true," Hiro laughed. It was nice being able to kick back and enjoy being with his niisan, although he would never admit to that fact out loud.

"And you're my little guy," Tadashi adds, hugging Hiro closer.

Hiro rolled his eyes again, a smile on his face. Apparently he'd never get away from being Tadashi's little guy no matter how much he grew. "Wanna watch a movie or something?" he asked after a few minutes of contented silence, wanting to do something to take his mind off of what happened.

"Sounds good," Tadashi agrees, glad to do anything to help Hiro forget the terrifying events of earlier that evening. He wanted Hiro to be able to get past those and think of it as nothing more than a bad nightmare as soon as possible. For himself, he knew that the experience was going to be forever seared into his memory, but instead of letting it terrify him, he was going to try to find ways to be prepared in case that... _thing_ ever came back. And if it did, he was going to turn it into sushi before it could ever lay another tentacle on his brother.

Hiro and Tadashi moved into the living room, the pair sitting on the sofa, the older pressed protectively against the younger. For once,, though, Hiro wasn't complaining about the contact. "So...what movie?" he asks.

"Hm..." Tadashi considers this. "How about you pick?"

Hiro though it over for a moment. He really wanted something funny and they hadn't seen it in such a long time... " _Lilo and Stitch_?" he finally suggests.

"Sounds perfect," Tadashi agrees, getting up to find the DVD. "You go get some popcorn while I get this started?"

"Ok," Hiro agreed grabbing a bag of popcorn and throwing it in the microwave while Tadashi started the movie. Once the popcorn was done, he dumped it into a bowl before returning to the living room and snuggling up against his brother.

Tadashi smiles as his little brother cuddles up against him, but decides not to say anything that would potentially ruin the moment, instead pushing play to start the movie. As soon as the title screen starts to roll and the castle shows up, only to suddenly start glowing green, Tadashi lets out an over-the-top gasp. "Oh my gosh, the aliens are abducting Cinderella!" he cries, pretending to freak out.

Hiro couldn't help but burst out laughing at his brother's ridiculousness and elbowed him.

"Oh come on, we're not even thirty seconds into the movie!" he exclaimed, unable to stop his laughter. It had been too long since he'd laughed so hard. " _N_ _erd_ ," he adds affectionately.

"Hey, nerds are going to rule the world someday," Tadashi replies, elbowing him lightly back but secretly pleased that he'd gotten Hiro to laugh. It had been too long since his little brother had actually had a good time.

"We are the ones with the brains to do it," Hiro agreed, settling beside Tadashi and throwing a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, nodding proudly. "I mean, seriously, without people like us, we wouldn't have awesome movies like this!" He gestures to the screen where a little furry blue alien is happily causing mayhem.

"And there would be no flying cats!" Hiro exclaimed when he noticed Mochi, their aunt's cat, sneaking up onto the sofa next to them, referencing a pet project the two brothers always joked about doing where they would strap rocket boots to the family cat to see how well he could fly.

"Exactly," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin. "Seriously, what sort of world would it be without crazy brothers to create flying cats?"

"Boring, very boring!" Hiro declared with a giant grin on his face. "Nothing interesting would ever happen."

"Exactly," Tadashi agrees, secretly thrilled to see his brother grinning. It had been so long since Hiro had done that, and it was honestly worth more to Tadashi than a whole bookshelf full of awards just to see his brother smile.

Hiro smiled and turned his attention back to the movie. When it got to the part where Lilo wanted to adopt Stitch Hiro asked, "What would you do if I tried to adopt a blue dog?"

"Well, I wouldn't have an issue with it," Tadashi replies with a slight smile. "But somehow I get the feeling that Aunt Cass wouldn't allow it since we have Mochi and the two probably wouldn't get along that well."

Hiro smirked and asked, "So the only problem with all of this is that the possibly alien dog is a dog and wouldn't get along with the cat and not the fact that the dog is blue?"

"Well hey, I think that a blue dog would be pretty cool," Tadashi returns with a slight smile. "He'd make an awesome mascot for the Hamada bros, don't you think?"

"Better than Mochi?" Hiro asked.

"Hm... that is true, I guess a flying cat is hard to beat," Tadashi agrees after a moment's thought.

"Imagine a flying blue dog though..." Hiro said after a few minutes of contemplative silence.

"Now that would be epic!" Tadashi grins, and then, hearing the injured meow from the cat sitting next to him adds, "No offense, Mochi."

"Well, that settles it, if we ever get a blue dog, we will have to have a competition to see who is more worthy to be our mascot!"

"Oh yeah!" Tadashi agrees, putting up his hand for a fist bump

Grinning Hiro bumped Tadashi's fist with his own for the Hamada explosion.

"Seriously, though, no one could ever be cooler than my little bro," Tadashi adds, pulling Hiro back in for some more snuggling.

Hiro rolled his eyes but didn't fight Tadashi, settling down instead to enjoy the movie.

Eventually they hit the part of the movie where Lilo talks to Stitch about her and Nani's deceased parents. Tadashi always does his best to try to keep himself from losing it during the scene, but he never can. It's too similar to their own story-the parents dying in a car crash, the older sibling having to take responsibility for the care of the younger-that it's almost impossible for it not to strike a nerve. Not wanting to upset Hiro, though, he merely hugs his little brother a little tighter, quietly burying his face in the younger's thatch of raven hair and letting the tears fall.

Hiro knew that this part always got to Tadashi, it being painfully similar to what they had gone through themselves. He honestly hardly remembered what happened that day, but he knew that Tadashi remembered it all too well. Knowing how much his brother needed it, Hiro wrapped his arms tightly around Tadashi as best he could and let his niisan silently cry.

Tadashi was grateful to feel Hiro hugging him-somehow his little brother's hugs could always make him feel better about anything. They had gotten him through some of his worst days, especially in the weeks following their parents' deaths. He still has vivid mental images of everything that had happened back then, although for the most part he was able to keep those memories locked away and mainly forgotten so that he didn't have to deal with the pain. Bu,t as he thinks about it now, he wonders just how much Hiro's actually able to recall about their parents.

Hiro knew he did the right thing when Tadashi's grip around him tightened. A part of him felt guilty for not remembering anything and leaving his brother to suffer alone, but the selfish part of him was grateful he didn't have those memories. He just wished he knew better what he could do for his brother. Should he ask? Or would asking only make things worse? Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he finally asked, "Umm... Dashi... H-... I mean...what ca-...I'm sorry..." He hated himself for not being able to get the question out, but he just didn't know what else to say.

"Hey, you okay?" Tadashi asks, looking down at Hiro in concern, wiping his eyes quickly on the sleeve of his shirt and wondering if the movie's upsetting his little brother too.

"Yea I just... feel bad... I don't remember our parents at all and... I feel bad seeing you upset over something and I don't know how to make you feel better..." Hiro eventually said. "You don't have to pretend to not be upset, you know..."

"Whoa, don't feel bad that you can't remember for my sake!" Tadashi cries, feeling terrible for apparently making Hiro feel worse. _Way to keep the mood cheerful, Dashi_ he mentally chides himself. Still, now that the subject is out on the floor, he might as well take advantage of the situation to start asking Hiro some of the questions that had been bothering him. "I was actually thinking about how hard it must be for you-you didn't really get much of a chance to know our parents, did you?"

"No..." Hiro admitted. "But... I guess it's hard to miss something you never really had, you know?" He looked up at Tadash,i who seemed to look even more upset. _Good job Hiro, making him even_ more _upset_ Hiro mentally scolded himself.

"I wish that you had gotten to spend much time with them," Tadashi says after taking a minute to collect his thoughts, feeling more sorry for Hiro that he hadn't gotten to experience what it was like having parental figures in his life than upset with him for not remembering. The poor kid had only been three when they'd died, after all-how could he be expected to remember that far back when even Tadashi's memories of those times were somewhat fuzzy? "I think you really would have liked them," he continues, going back in his mind to his early years. "I mean, I can see a lot of both of them in you."

"You can?" Hiro asked, movie forgotten. "Like how?" A part of him didn't really need to know about his parents-he honestly couldn't even recall their faces. But another part did want to know what about him reminded Tadashi of them.

"Well..." Tadashi considers this. "Looks wise you've got a lot from mom-she was always on the smaller side, if you catch my drift, and you definitely have her ears and face shape, plus you have her smile and eyes. Personality wise, I'm a lot more like mom on the quiet, thinking everything through a million times before actually doing anything about it side, but you've definitely got her determination-if she put her mind to something that she really believed in, she would find a way to get it done, no matter what the odds. As for dad, I think we've both got Hamada hair, although you seem to have it worse than me." Tadashi smiles slightly as he mentions the incessant bed head that seems to be genetic in this family. "Seriously, if he combed it and put some time into it like I do, it was pretty much like mine usually is, but on the days he just let it have its own way, he looked like this epic mad scientist or something-which, he sort of was. He absolutely loved robotics, and he could build whatever machine he needed out of whatever stuff was around him. You would have loved hanging out with him in the lab-I think you would have had a lot of fun getting to invent things with him. Oh, plus he was just a natural genius like you, although truth be told I think you surpass even him on that front."

"Wow..." Hiro mumbled. They sounded like pretty cool parents. As hard as Hiro tried to though, he just couldn't feel anything other than a small pang in his chest that he never really got to meet them. "I... I kind of wish I'd met them but... I... I don't really miss them you know? I-I'm sorry..."

"Hey, don't be sorry for my sake," Tadashi says, stroking his little brother's hair. "And if anything, I'm glad that you're able to live your life without having to be held back by memories or regret."

"Regret?" Hiro asked confused. What did Tadashi have to regret about them?

"Well..." Tadashi turns slightly red, hating to say anything against his parents' memories, especially since Hiro didn't remember them that well and he wanted his little brother to think of them in a positive light. But, wanting to be honest, he admits with a slight sigh, "I mean, as awesome as they were, Mom and Dad spent a lot, a lot of time at the lab. The time they spent with me was amazing, but, honestly, I didn't get near as much as I wanted to. Sometimes if I was lucky I got to go with them and hang out with Fred and Abigail, the kids of mom and dad's friends at the lab. But more often than not I was left on my own in the house. It was actually pretty lonely until you came along and changed everything."

"That must have been lonely..." Hiro muttered, the whole thing painfully familiar to him. He knew what it was like to feel left out and alone, especially since Tadashi had started college. "I know what that's like."

Tadashi instantly felt guilty upon hearing that. He knew that he'd been really busy with school-now that he thought about it, though, he'd really been neglecting Hiro of late. "I guess I take after our parents a little too much, huh?" he finally says sadly after a minute.

Hiro winced, hating that he'd made Tadashi feel guilty. His brother loved school, something he had once as well. He couldn't blame him for loving it so much. "It's ok to love school," he finally says slowly. "But... if you feel bad about being gone so much, maybe we could try and do stuff like this more often? Minus the mushy gushy feeling stuff and nearly getting drowned, of course. We could go back to just inventing and other fun stuff."

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, mentally making a promise to himself that he was going to try to find opportunities to spend more time with his otouto. "Maybe we could even go out and have some adventures like we used to when we were younger," he suggests after a minute's thought. "Like, I know there's this awesome comic convention coming to the area this weekend! Maybe we could go to that together?"

Hiro did not like the sound of a going to a nerd convention, but it seemed like Tadashi really wanted to go, and since he was making an effort to spend more time with him, how could he say no? "Sure, why not?" he agrees. "Just don't expect me to dress up in some nerd outfit!" Hiro was definitely more interested in robots and inventing than in comics and cosplay, but he'd do almost anything as long as it was with his nii-chan.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want you to feel like you have to do anything you're not comfortable with," Tadashi responds, secretly celebrating because he'd expected Hiro to reject the idea flat-out.

"Then it's a deal," Hiro agreed, raising his fist.

"It's a deal," Tadashi agrees, raising his own fist for the fist bump. Then, feeling silly because he was in a good mood, instead of making the usual explosion sound at the end, he said, "Ba-la-la-la-la!"

"What was that?" Hiro asked, making a face at his brother.

"Eh, just thought I'd mix it up a little," Tadashi says with a slight smile.

"Ok, whatever, nerd." Hiro said, shrugging.

"Yeah I'm a nerd, and don't you forget it," Tadashi replies, grinning and poking his brother lightly.

"You're my nerd though," Hiro added, elbowing him back.

"Yes I am," Tadashi agrees, snuggling his little brother again.

Hiro rolled his eyes and hugged his brother. Tadashi was a dork, but he was his dork. "That's why I love you."

Tadashi can't help but feel a complete and total feels overload at that. Had his little brother just said, "I love you"?! The hug quickly turns into a full-on glomp fest, complete with happy squeaking noises.

Hiro couldn't help but laugh slightly at his brother's reaction to what he'd said. His brother sure got excited easily. He frowned slightly when he realized how long it had been since he had actually told Tadashi how much he cared about him, which was probably why he was crushing him at the moment. It was time to change that, just in case it became too late.

"I love you too, otouto," Tadashi finally says, realizing that he'd given all of the physical signs of affection but not expressed it verbally yet.

Hiro smiled and tightened his grip around his brother, a wave of emotions hitting him suddenly. He had always rationalized keeping his emotions hidden because he was a boy and as such he shouldn't openly say that he loved his brother, like, ever. He was realizing, though, that that was cruel to his Tadashi, and he resolved to fix this pattern of behavior as soon as possible.

"I'm never going to want to let you go at this point, you know that?" Tadashi finally mumbles into Hiro's hair as the closing scenes of the movie flash across the screen.

Hiro tightened his grip around him and mumbled, "I honestly don't mind right now." He was so tired, drained physically and emotionally, that he appreciated just being able to be there with his brother and feeling safe.

"Good, because I'm not going anywhere," Tadashi responds.

"You better not," Hiro mumbled clutching his brother tightly.

"Nope, I'm staying right here with the best otouto in the world!"

"Good, cuz I don't want to lose the coolest nii-chan in the world."

"Aw, you actually think I'm a cool niichan?" Tadashi asks with a smile.

"Don't let it go to your head or else you won't be cool anymore."

"I won't," Tadashi promises, "because when it comes to coolness, my otouto totally has me beat."

Hiro's face turned bright red at Tadashi's comment and all Hiro could stammer out was "T-t-thanks..."

Tadashi can tell that Hiro's embarrassed, but honestly, his little bro needs some confidence-boosting, and that's exactly what big brothers were there for.

Hiro honestly had no idea how Tadashi thought he was so amazing, but he really appreciated it.

"Oh, look!" Tadashi points to the screen, smiling as he does so. "It's the part where Stitch get to go home with Lilo for good!"

"Not gonna cry on me, are you bro?" Hiro teased, curling up against Tadashi.

"Hey, real men aren't afraid to cry in movies," Tadashi retorts with a grin.

"Because you are such a manly man," Hiro teased a grin on his face.

"Well...reasonably," Tadashi responds after thinking this over for a moment. "I like to think that I'm also in touch with my feminine side."

"No offense, but I think you make a much better brother than a sister," Hiro replied jokingly.

"A brother who knows how to sew just about anything and is a total boss in the kitchen," Tadashi agrees with a slight smirk.

"Better not say that in front of Aunt Cass," was all Hiro would say to that.

"Hey, she's the one who taught me how to cook, so she should take it as a compliment," Tadashi returns, enjoying the friendly banter.

"Or she'll take it as a threat of her place in the house," Hiro countered teasingly, loving getting to hang out with his brother like this.

"Don't worry, I know better than to challenge the master," Tadashi reassures him with a light laugh.

"Good, cuz I do not want to have to choose between you and Aunt Cass when she throws you out," Hiro laughed.

"Hey, you'd better pick me, because if you don't I will seriously kidnap you and take you somewhere no one will ever find you," Tadashi shoots back, hugging him protectively.

Hiro grinned and laughed, "Well it looks like I don't have a choice in the matter does it? Would you at least take my tool box so I could build stuff?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd make us the coolest inventing center ever!" Tadashi returns with a grin. "We'd have all sorts of workshops and we could build stuff all day!"

Laughing, Hiro declared, "Sorry Aunt Cass, but Hamada Bros Inc must live on! It would be so cool! We could invent epic stuff and sell it to make millions! Oh man, is it bad I want us to get kicked out so that can happen?"

"Well, maybe we don't want to get ourselves kicked out, but one day, we're going to make it a reality," Tadashi promises.

"Yea, and when we do it's going to be amazing! It'll just be you and me making incredible things and reaching for the flying cats!"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, nodding his head in satisfaction. "And we'll change the whole world."

Hiro grinned up at Tadashi nodding his head. "No, how about the whole universe?"

"Oh yeah!" Tadashi agrees enthusiastically. "Because that's how the Hamadas do things!"

"Exactly" Hiro agreed raising a fist for a fist bump.

Tadashi returns the fist bump, and then suddenly lets out a yawn. "How late is it?" he asks. When he checks the clock on the wall, he feels vaguely panicked. " _1 am?!_ Oh my gosh, we need to get you to bed, you have school in the morning!"

Hiro huffed in annoyance before taking on an innocent look, "But nii-chan, I almost drowned, do I _have_ to go?"

"Yes, it's a school day, and you don't need to be missing classes unless it's absolutely necesarry," Tadashi returns. Still, overprotective brother syndrome kicking in, he realizes that Hiro might be afraid of nightmares after what happened (heck, he was probably going to be having nightmares after this!), so he softens a little bit and decides to offer his younger brother something that he knew had always helped when they were little and the boy had been frightened by thunderstorms or the idea of monsters in the closet. "Hey," he says, giving Hiro's shoulder a gentle nudge, "do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?"

Hiro wanted to tell him that he wasn't a child anymore, but another part desperately wanted his nii-chan to be near him in case that creature came back, or, worse, nightmares. He nodded his head and mumbled, "That- that sounds good..."

"Great." Tadashi grins, glad that Hiro's agreeing to this-honestly, he doesn't exactly want to let the boy out of his sights either. He puts his arm around his otouto's shoulders. "You ready to head up?"

"Yea," Hiro agreed, following Tadashi up to their room.

"You go ahead and start getting ready," Tadashi tells him, giving him a gentle shove towards the bathroom. "I'll be there in a minute." As soon as Hiro's gone, Tadashi heads over to the closet and starts moving boxes. It's been a while since he'd pulled this out, but tonight he feels the need for having a little added protection. He finally finds what he's looking for behind an old hockey stick and a baseball bat. Blowing the dust off of the sheath, he pulls the blade of his father's _katana_ out and tests it against his finger. A thin line of blood instantly appears on his skin-it's as sharp as if it had just been sharpened yesterday. Maybe he's being paranoid, but he'd like to have it on hand just in case. Still, as he starts to turn back towards the main room he decides that it's probably best if Hiro doesn't know about this. What would he think if he knew that his older brother actually knew how to use a sword?

Hiro was almost positive Tadashi was up to _something,_ he was acting very strange. A part of Hiro was curious, another was just grateful that Tadashi was probably doing something to protect them from whatever that monster had been. He finished getting ready and walked back into their bedroom, collapsing onto Tadashi's bed.

Tadashi freezes as he starts across the bedroom, only to find that Hiro's already back out. "Oh shoot..." he cries under his breath.

Hiro heard Tadashi gasp and sat up, eyes wide. "Is something wrong?"

"Um..." Tadashi isn't sure how to answer that, considering the fact he's standing in the middle of his bedroom holding a deadly weapon and he had no idea how to explain this to his little bro.

"W-where did you get that?" Hiro stammered once he noticed the sword in his brother's hand.

Tadashi tries to think of a good reply to that, but his brain has chosen to freeze up on him so he's actually completely immobilized for a full minute. Then he finally has enough sense to lower the sword so that at least it doesn't look like he's gone psycho and is planning on actually using it on anyone (at that moment, anyway.) "Uh... I guess I have some explaining to do," he finally manages to get out, turning red and rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"You think?" Hiro asked, glancing warily at the sword in his brother's hand. How had he never known about that thing?

Tadashi comes over and sits down on the bed next to Hiro. He hopes that his brother doesn't mind that he hasn't put the katana down yet, but he's somehow unwilling to let it go-he'd honestly forgotten how right it felt for there to be the hilt of a sword in his hand. The very fact that he's so comfortable around the blade is yet another thing he's going to have to explain to his otouto-seriously, what is Hiro going to think once he knows the truth about all of this? Realizing that being silent was probably only freaking Hiro out more, though, the older Hamada finally forces himself to start speaking. "Um, you know how I was telling you about Dad earlier?" he begins awkwardly.

"Yea..." Hiro slowly replied, eyeing the sword warily. "Did...did Dad teach you to use that?"

"He did," Tadashi agreed, carefully turning the blade over in his hand. "That among many other things. The truth is...I've never told you this before, but we come from a long, long line of Japanese warriors. Some of them were even samurai back in the day. Of course there isn't really that much of a need for those sorts of fighters anymore, and vigilantism is frowned upon, but that doesn't mean that our family stopped being prepared in case the day ever came that they were needed again. They kept training in secret, one generation teaching the skills to the next. And Dad-he was probably one of the best ever. He was seriously amazing- I don't think there was a single form of Japanese fighting that he hadn't mastered. I wish you could have seen him in action, it was incredible! Before he died, he started teaching me." He gives Hiro a sad smile. "He wanted to teach you too, y'know, but, well, I think you know why that couldn't happen."

"Wow..." Hiro whispered. "That's sick! I never thought you'd be one to use a weapon but... it works for you...really well actually."

Tadashi blushes slightly. "T-thanks," he stammers out. "I mean, I've never actually used it to hurt anyone or anything, but I guess it is sort of useful to know how to use it just in case."

"I honestly feel a little safer knowing you have this," Hiro admitted. Knowing his brother had something that could hurt the monster from earlier was definitely reassuring.

"So, you're not freaked out that your brother's secretly an amateur samurai?" Tadashi asks, wanting to make sure but feeling a relieved smile beginning to cross his face.

"...A little shocked but it's really cool!"

"I'm glad," Tadashi laughs. "Believe me, it hasn't been easy keeping it a secret for this long."

"What, have you been training in secret or something?" Hiro asks, meaning it as a joke.

Tadashi turns slightly red. "Um...maybe?"

"When...how...where?" Hiro stammered, unable to comprehend how he missed his brother pulling out a weapon like this.

"I mean, I haven't picked up a sword in years," Tadashi quickly reassures his little brother. "But I have to say that it is a bit of a rush to fight muggers off when they're attacking vulnerable girls or old ladies on the street." He turns scarlet as he realizes that he'd just admitted to that out loud. "Not-not that I actually go into dangerous parts of the city looking for fights! I mean, that would be completely irresponsible..." Oh gosh, he was getting in waaaaay over his head.

"Riiiight," Hiro agreed sarcastically. "I totally believe you. I mean you are the responsible one who would never _ever_ do anything stupid like that."

"Of course I wouldn't," Tadashi agrees, fidgeting a little since he can tell that Hiro can totally see through him. Shoot, this totally was going to blow up in his face at some point…

"Right" Hiro agreed. "Because lying to your innocent otouto would be very bad for such a great nii-chan to do."

Tadashi puts his head in his in his hands. "Oh gosh, I'm such a horrible role model," he groans.

"Hey, you could be doing something really bad like drugs or something!" Hiro hurries to reassure him

"What makes you think I'm not?" Tadashi returns, completely straight faced.

Hiro eyed Tadashi carefully before declaring, "You're right I don't. I should probably get you drug tested just to be sure."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Tadashi quickly assures him, laughing at his little brother's reaction.

"You sure?" Hiro asked, eyebrows raised.

"Hamada bros honor," Tadashi promises, raising his right hand.

"Alright, I believe you," Hiro responded, grinning.

"Good." Tadashi gives him a relieved look. "Seriously, I wouldn't lie to you about something as important as that. I may not always be the best role model, but I am trying." He ruffles Hiro's hair affectionately. "At least I know I don't have to worry about you going off and doing anything stupid, right?"

"Right!" Hiro exclaimed, tensing slightly as he lies right through his teeth. He quickly hurries on, trying to comfort his conscience, "You try so hard nii-chan. That's all anyone could ever expect!" Once again he was hit with the intense desire to tell Tadashi about the bot fighting, but he managed to hold back, although just barely.

"Well, I don't know about that, but thanks," Tadashi says with a slight smile. He'd honestly never truly feel like he was doing enough as an older brother, but Hiro's reassurances were enough to at least make him feel slightly better about everything.

"No, I'm serious!" Hiro assured. "I just...you're my best friend and... the best brother I could ask for."

"I couldn't ask for a better brother either," Tadashi says, pulling Hiro in for another hug.

Hiro smiled contently, shutting his eyes and enjoying being tightly held. He didn't like to admit it, but he was lonely. Somehow, though, his nii-chan was always able to chase away the dark thoughts.

Tadashi gently begins to rock Hiro back and forth like he always did when they were little and his little bro had a hard time falling asleep.

Hiro felt himself slowly relaxing, his exhaustion creeping up on him.

Tadashi gently moves the katana with his foot to rest against the bedside table, and then, feeling content that at least for now he's done everything he can to protect his little brother, he leans his head up against the wall so he can at least try to get in a couple of hours of shuteye. "Good night Hiro," he whispers.

"Night Dashi..." Hiro mumbled. If he was being honest with himself, he was still a bit unsettled. Ever since Tadashi brought up their parents crash earlier that night, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He desperately wanted to remember something about that day, anything, but it was all just a blur to him. The only image he could conjure up was Tadashi holding him in the hospital, crying.

Frustrated, Hiro let his tired eyes drift shut and fell into a restless sleep.

0o0

((Hey guys! We hope that you're enjoying the story so far! :D Just real quick, we're going to take a moment to recognize some of the awesome RP'ers who also contributed to this story! By order of appearance:  
((Lake Kaiju: WDisneyRP-Ursula  
((Professor Callaghan/Abigail: WDisneyrRP-Yokai  
((Honey Lemon: WDisneyRP-HoneyLemon  
((GoGo: WDisneyRP-GoGo/ u/4645321/Rebeccafairy  
((Please check them out, they are all seriously amazing! If you'd like to be involved in our RP group, please visit the DisneyRP-Old-and-New group homepage on DeviantArt-it will give you all of the information about how you can join this awesome community of RPer's! Anways, thanks again so much for reading, and we'll see you next chapter! ^w^))


	2. Chapter 2

((Self-Harm trigger warning for this chapter.))

0o0

 _Hiro was in a car with a strange man and a strange woman, but he wasn't afraid. These people were nice, they would protect him._

" _Are you ready for your first day of preschool sweetie?" The woman asked, turning back to look at Hiro who excitedly nodded his head and said, "Are we almost there momma?"_

" _We'll get there in a few minutes buddy," the man Hiro realized was his father assured. Their faces were blurry, but Hiro could tell they looked a lot like himself and Dashi. Hiro nodded his head excitedly and looked out the window, anxious to get to class. He wanted to be just like Dashi when he got older. He was the smartest person in the entire world!_

" _What the hell?" Daddy shouted, startling Hiro out of his thoughts. The car suddenly jerked to the left and towards oncoming traffic. Daddy jerked the wheel to the right, pushing back against whatever was trying to push against them. Daddy pushed down on the horn as something rammed even harder into the side of the car, successfully shoving the car onto the wrong side of the road. Daddy tried to get back onto the other side, but was too late._

 _Hiro heard a second horn go off as a car smashed full speed into their car. Hiro screamed as the car jerked to a sudden halt, both his parents silent in the front seat._

" _Momma? Pappa?" Hiro asked, staring in horror at his parents. "Momma? Pappa! Wake up!" Hiro shouted, shaking in his seat. Hiro started sobbing uncontrollably, tugging on his seatbelt desperately trying to get to his parents. He couldn't get out though no matter how hard he pulled and neither stirred no matter how much he shouted._

 _Soon Hiro distantly heard sirens getting closer and closer, but he didn't care. Why wouldn't they wake up? Didn't they know he needed them to wake up? Something started sawing through the car door, but Hiro ignored it, continuing to call for his parents, begging them to wake up._

 _Arms suddenly wrapped around Hiro, pulling him out of the car and taking him away from his parents. Hiro started thrashing in their arms, screaming uncontrollably. The person holding Hiro started to carry him to an ambulance, saying soothing words to him, but Hiro ignored them. He wanted his parents!_

" _Momma! Pappa!" Hiro shouted, sobbing uncontrollably. The person holding him passed him off to someone in the ambulance, who said, "It's alright sweetie we're going to take care of you."_

" _No!" Hiro screamed, tears streaming down his face. "Why won't mamma and papa wake up?" The woman looked at Hiro sadly and said, "Listen we're going to take you to the hospital where you're Aunt and brot-"_

" _But what about momma and papa?" Hiro sobbed._

" _We need to get you taken care of," was all the woman would say. Hiro knew that meant something really bad happened, especially since they called his aunt._

" _A-a-are t-t-they d-de-dead?" Hiro whimpered, thinking about how they laid in the car unmoving. The woman froze, a look of sorrow on her face. She didn't have to say anything, Hiro knew what he said was true. Hiro didn't stop crying until they reached the hospital, finally having run out of tears._

 _Hiro felt numb as they rolled him through the hospital, people constantly asking him questions and poking and prodding him, demanding to know what happened. Everything became a blurry mess until he found himself alone in a hospital room. It was silent except for the beeping of the heart monitor. Hiro had hated the running and shouting, but somehow the silence was even worse._

 _Hiro heard shouting outside his door and the door was thrown open, a frantic Tadashi running into the room._

" _Hiro!" Tadashi sobbed, throwing his arms around Hiro. "I thought I lost you too!" ho sobbed, clutching Hiro in his arms, rocking him back and forth, body shaking with sobs. Hiro should have been crying too, their parents were dead! But Hiro just felt drained._

" _Hiro?" A distant voice called. "Hiro are you ok? Hiro?"_

Hiro jolted awake and found himself looking up at a worried looking Tadashi.

"Wha-?" Hiro drowsily asked, looking around his room in confusion, briefly wondering why he was no longer in the hospital.

"Hey." Tadashi looks down at his little bro with concern. "Are you alright? I think you were having a nightmare."

"I-I... yea..." Hiro admitted, trembling slightly. Was that what really happened or some sort of dream?

"What were you dreaming about?" Tadashi asks, feeling deeply concerned that his brother had been thinking about that kaiju from the lake.

For a moment Hiro considered not telling him, but another part was curious if those where dreams or actual memories. "I dreamed about the car crash with mom and dad... " he admitted. "I'm not sure if it's an actual memory or... or just me wishing I could remember or... or what..."

"You were dreaming about the crash?!" Tadashi's face goes instantly pale. "Oh my gosh, this is all my fault! I shouldn't have brought up that stuff about Mom and Dad! I am a horrible niisan..."

"Tadashi!" Hiro exclaimed, cutting his brother off before he could completely freak out. "It's not your fault. I was the one asking and... I've been kind of thinking about it for a while..."

"Really?" Tadashi didn't know whether to be relieved that he wasn't the cause or worried about why Hiro would be dwelling on something like that. "Would it make you feel better to talk to me about it?" he finally asks softly.

"Y-y-yea..." Hiro finally agreed. "I couldn't really see their faces...they were all blurry but I remember the crash and... and seeing them... lying there. I should feel sad but... it's like it happened to someone else. Does that make me a bad son?"

"No, not at all!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, putting his arm around his shoulders. "Honestly, it makes total sense that you wouldn't feel much of a connection to the events. You were only three, and besides which, a lot of people who have been through traumatic events sort of disassociate themselves from them-it's sort of a little coping mechanism God built into our brains to help us through the tough stuff in life. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, but honestly, I don't think Mom and Dad would want you to feel bad about not feeling anything regarding the crash. If anything, they'd be glad that you're not suffering!"

"Not like I did," Tadashi mentally adds, shivering slightly as some of his own repressed memories start creeping up on him.

"You really think they wouldn't be hurt that I can't remember?" Hiro asked hopefully.

"Y-yeah. Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, trying to keep a reassuring smile on his face but not doing too good a job as suddenly dark memories-ones he hadn't ever wanted to go through again-start flooding from the far corners of his memories into the frontal viewing area in all of their wretched glory. His breathing becomes slightly ragged as a tightness fills his chest. Oh no-no, no, no. He knew what this was. It had been years since he'd had one, but he'd never forget this feeling. "Not here-not now," he silently pleads. But he knows it won't do much good-almost nothing could stop a panic attack.

"Dashi, are you ok?" Hiro asked, noticing how freaked out his brother was looking. Was this because of him? Stupid, he shouldn't have started talking to him about the crash! He was hurting Tadsashi!

"Nng..." Tadashi lets out a tiny groan and squeezes his eyes shut as the pain of the long buried memories comes back to him full force. No, this couldn't be happening! He'd put all of this behind him! But like it or not, the memories had been triggered and now they were coming back to haunt him with a vengeance.

Hiro had no idea what to do. Tadashi had gone completely stiff, and he wasn't responding to Hiro. Unsure of what else to do, the younger Hamada threw his arms around the elder and said, "Dashi, I don't know what to do but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere!"

Tadashi barely manages to get his eyes open. Too much...It's too much. There's only one way he knows of to stop it. He hates doing it after being clean for so long, but it's his only chance right now.

"Hiro," he says, gritting his teeth and trying to stave off getting fully sucked into the darkness for as long as he can, "go get me a knife from the kitchen."

"What?" Hiro whispered, horrified. "No I... I can't just let you hurt yourself!" Tadashi self harmed? How had Hiro never noticed?

"Hiro, just do it!" Tadashi says, looking to him desperately. "Please..."

Hiro was stuck. On the one hand, it seemed like Tadashi needed this, on the other how could he call himself a good brother if he sat back and helped his niisan hurt himself? Shaking, Hiro got to his feet and ran into the kitchen, his health teacher's words playing through his mind. He reluctantly picked up the knife, but also grabbed several ice cubes and raced upstairs again.

"D-Dashi..." he stammered, "Please don't hate me... I really don't want to see you hurt yourself... I know I can't stop you but I love you more than anything and I really want to help so... I-I have something that might help better then the knife... w-would you be w-willing to try?"

Tadashi doesn't hear him-by now the memories have surrounded him like a thick fog of nightmares, and they're not going to let him go without a fight.

 _Little Tadashi walks down the hall of his school, smiling as he looks forward to starting his first day of third grade. He's so excited-this is the first year his class is going to start reading the big kid books and he's going to have a real science class and everything! Of course he's been reading harder books than the other kids in his class for years, and he already knew lots about science from his mama and otousan, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy it. Maybe the other kids won't tease him so much now that they're all going to be learning the stuff he already knows._

 _He hangs his backpack up in the hall with the others', liking hearing the other kids talking about their vacations, even if none of them are talking to him. It's okay that they aren't-at least he has Baymax. Looking around to make sure that no one's looking, he opens his backpack and quickly gives his favorite robot doll, the one his msma had made for him, a hug. He quietly promises to be back soon, and then closes the bag up and hurries into the classroom._

 _Soon the teacher starts class. She seems nice. She's wearing lots of pretty colors and has a big smile on her face and smells like flowers, just like his mama does when she wears perfume. Even better, she actually calls on Tadashi five times when he raises his hand to answer questions and tells him what a good boy he is. Tadashi doesn't know why the other kids don't seem very happy about that, but he knows from his parents that teachers like it when students show how much they know so it doesn't bother him._

 _About an hour into class, some men come and knock on the door of the classroom. Both are wearing policeman uniforms and Tadashi wonders why they're in the school and if someone had done something bad. The men talk to the teacher, and Tadashi hears his own name being said. He feels scared-had he done something wrong? Were the police there to take him away?_

 _The nice teacher calls Tadashi over to the door, and she looks sad. Tadashi wonders why she looks so upset, and he wants to say something to her feel better, but the policemen take him out into the hall before he can. They say a lot of things which don't make sense to Tadashi-something about bad things sometimes happening to nice people and about how he needs to be a brave boy. Tadashi doesn't like the way they're talking. He wants to go back into the classroom and have his lessons. He doesn't want to hear what they're saying about horrible things that sometimes happen for no good reason. And then they say the words that completely change his world: "Your parents are dead."_

 _Mama...Otousan… No! They can't be dead! Dying only happens to people who are very old or sometimes to animals like the baby bird he had found in the park that fell out of its nest. Tadashi tells the men no, they must be wrong. But the police officers keep telling him that yes, his parents are dead, and that they are never coming back._

 _Tadashi can't think anything for a little bit. He stops hearing, stops seeing. And then he starts thinking again, and it's a very different type of thinking from before. Dark thoughts-thoughts of sadness and pain that hurt come to him. Thoughts that make him want to run away and hide somewhere where he never has to come out. Or maybe he can run to the place where mama and otousan are…_

 _But he can only think these things for very long because the police officers say something else-they say that his brother is still alive, but very, very hurt. They say that they are taking Tadashi to the hospital to see Hiro._

 _Tadashi follows them, but he isn't thinking about his class or the teacher, or even his parents-he only thinks of Hiro. Hiro, his little brother. Hiro who had been sick so many times. Hiro was so tiny and yet always so happy. Hiro who his mama and otousan had always told him he was supposed to look after because he was his otouto. Tadashi feels his heart clench around that thought. His mama and otousan aren't here anymore. He is all Hiro has now. He will take care of Hiro for them. He will be Hiro's family and he will make sure that Hiro gets well. All the way to the hospital, even though his heart hurts very much, all he thinks of is Hiro. Even when he sees his Aunt, he does not speak to her. All he wants is Hiro. He doesn't understand why he can't see Hiro-the nurses and doctors say that his little brother is not there yet, but he wants to see him, to make sure that he is okay, to make him well. He knows that he can make Hiro better-why won't they let him make Hiro better? He promises himself that he will somehow do so, no matter what they say._

 _Finally Tadashi hears a siren and lots of doctor people come hurrying in through the door with a bed that's on wheels, and Tadashi can see his otouto on it._

" _Hiro!" he cries, hurrying towards the bed and not paying attention to the nurses or policemen or even his Aunty Cass. "Hiro!" he calls again, desperate for his brother to hear him._

" _Dashi?" Hiro opens his eyes. Tadashi feels his heartbeat speed up. Hiro is looking for him!_

" _Hiro, I'm here!" he tells him, trying to fight away the people holding him back. Why won't they let him go to Hiro?_

" _Dashi?" Hiro says louder, trying to find him. "Dashi?"_

"Dashi!" Tadashi shakes his head slightly, coming back to the present and feeling something that's cold and at the same time burning on his wrist.

Hiro had had no idea what to do. Tadashi had completely shut down and was shaking uncontrollably. He knew his brother wanted to cut, but how could he in good conscious do that to his nii-chan? He had no idea how to snap his brother out of this, though. Taking a deep breath and praying that it would work, Hiro had grabbed Tadashi's wrist and pressed an ice cube onto it saying, "Dashi? Dashi can you hear me?"

The slight burning sensation from the cold ice had been enough to pull Tadashi back out of the blackness of the memories, and internally he's proud of Hiro for having figured out how to do that. But the relief is short lived. He can already feel the darkness clamoring back from the corners of the room where it had fled-it wasn't ready to let him go, and he knew that, as much as it was going to hurt Hiro, he needed to go further. He needed the stronger physical pain to ground him, to pull him back into reality-to let him know that he was still alive. Seeing that Hiro, fortunately, hadn't neglected to bring the knife (oh gosh, he feels horrible for putting his little brother through this, but his own survival is on the line here), he reaches for it, gently pulling the blade out of his otouto's grasp. "Hiro, thank you for everything you've done so far, but you probably should go while I do this," he says softly, fighting to stay in the present and not to be pulled back into the dark grey of chaos that's threatening to overtake him. Every second counts right now, but he doesn't want his otouto to have to watch this.

"Wait, please," Hiro whispered, grabbing Tadashi's hand. A part of him felt like he was being a horrible brother for saying this, but another knew he'd never forgive himself if he didn't try and do something to help. "I-I... I want to help you so badly right now and I just don't feel right leaving you to do this to yourself without... without asking c-c-can we t-try something first? Please... I won't stop you i-i-if you don't want to try but... please? Please don't hate me..."

"Oh my gosh, Hiro, I don't hate you." Tadashi gives his brother a weak smile. "And if you have an idea-well, we'll give it a try."

Hiro pressed another ice cube against Tadashi's other wrist and said, "Hold this" before running over to his desk, scrambling to find a rubber band. Finally spotting one, he grabbed the band and ran over to his brother, removing the ice cube and then slipping the band on his brothers wrist. "Snap this on your wrist a few times. It still makes the sting but doesn't leave any permanent damage!"

"Oh, Hiro..." Tadashi shakes his head slightly, hating to hurt his brother's feelings but about at his breaking point. "Believe me, I've tried all this before, but some things-some things are just too big to be taken care of with an ice cube or a rubber band. I don't expect you to understand, but please-I don't want you to have to watch me do this, but I'm going to have to if you don't look away in like the next five seconds."

Hiro felt sick. He wanted to help but couldn't. The one time his brother needed him, and he couldn't stop him from trying to hurt himself. He stood and ran out of the room before Tadashi could see his tears. Why was he such a failure?

Tadashi hates to see Hiro so freaked out, but he can't hold out any longer. Taking the knife, he slices it across his forearm. Instantly he feels the cool relief wash over him as the relief of the blade on his skin works its effective charm. But he doesn't stop there-he'd barely scratched skin. That may have worked the first time he'd done this out of desperation in a lonely hospital room, but he'd done it too many times for that to truly work anymore. So he viciously attacks his own flesh-once, twice, three times, until he finally manages to go deep enough on once to actually draw blood. There. That was enough. Letting out a relieved, if somewhat exhausted sigh-oh, thank Heavens, he could finally breathe again!- he quickly opens the drawer to the bedside table and throws the knife inside before shoving it closed again. No need to leave temptation in a place he could easily get to it. He'd have to take it back downstairs later, but for now all he really didn't want to mess with it. Honestly, he was completely worn out-going through a full on panic attack like that was like running ten miles uphill and all he wanted to do was just pass out on the bed. But he couldn't do that-not yet. He had another problem to deal with.

As the initial adrenaline from finally have gotten rid of the depressive thoughts (for the moment, anyway-for all he knew, they could come back at any time) starts to drain away, the full weight of what he'd just done hits him. He's not so much freaked out by the fact that he'd just cut for the first time in years-honestly, that really didn't scare him anymore. He was used to self-harm, and it wasn't enough to faze him. But the fact that he'd let himself get this far in front of Hiro... He lets out a tiny groan, putting his head in his hands. He had never, ever wanted Hiro to know about this. As far as he was concerned, it was something that his otouto was better off not knowing about. But all it had taken was one stupid emotional breakdown to tear down everything he'd worked so hard to construct. He was supposed to be the strong one-the one who had everything together. How was Hiro supposed to ever look at him the same way now that he knew the truth? Still, he couldn't just leave Hiro out in the hall-he was probably seriously freaked out, and the last thing he needed was to be alone right now. Tadashi of all people should know that. He checks his arm to take stock of the damage-one extremely light scar, barely a red line on the skin, three slightly deeper ones where it was obvious that he'd actually torn skin, the one ending with just the tiniest bit of blood.

"Flamin' heck..." Tadashi looks around for anything he can use to cover the scars. He reaches for a grey sweater on the bedpost and pulls it on. It'll have to do. The scars sting slightly, but not too badly-if anything, a part him's glad that they hurt. But there's no time to focus on that now.

"H-Hiro?" he finally calls, looking towards the door. "You-you can come back in now."

Hiro couldn't bring himself to let Tadashi see his tears. Tadashi was the one who felt the need to hurt himself. He was the one in pain, and Hiro had no right to be upset. He needed to be strong for his brother. He shuffled back into the room, desperately trying to wipe away his tears.

"D-Dashi... I-I... I love you and I'm sorry I made you so upset that y-you... I'm sorry..." How did he always manage to mess things up? It was because of him Tadashi hurt himself. Hiro threw his arms around Tadashi and mumbled "I love you and I want to help you if I can... what can I do?" He needed to be strong, needed to make up for causing his nii-chan so much pain. He squeezed his brother more tightly, trying to convey all his love into that moment.

"Hiro..." Tadashi cries, feeling horrible that he'd made him so upset. He wants to go into a long speech about how this wasn't Hiro's fault at all, but he can see that the last thing his little brother needs right now is words. Hiro needs to know that his older brother's all right, so Tadashi just hugs him back with everything he has in him. "It's not your fault," he finally mumbles into Hiro's shoulder, trying very hard not to cry-not for his own sake, but for his brother's. "And honestly, this is the best thing you can do for me right now."

Hiro felt the tears continue to stream down his face as he hugged Tadashi as tightly as possible. If doing this helped, then Hiro would never let go. Anything to help his brother never feel like he had to hurt himself again. "I love you, no matter what I love you," he whispered, unsure if what he was doing was still helping, but feeling compelled to say it anyways.

"I know." Tadashi hugs him even harder. "And that's what keeps me going. You've always been what's kept me going."

"I thought I was what... I thought I made you upset..." Hiro admitted, tears streaming down his face.

"Are you kidding me?!" Tadashi looks down at his little brother in disbelief. "You're, like, the only reason I didn't use a knife to finish myself off when I was nine years old and I didn't think I could take another day without mom and dad! You're the reason I've kept fighting on no matter how hard things get. Hiro, you're my hero, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you!"

Hiro looked up at Tadashi in amazement. He felt like such a burden, but his nii-chan was saying the exact opposite. He had saved Tadashi, he made his brother _happy_. Hiro buried his face into his brother's chest again, whispering, "I love you, nii-chan-more than anything."

"And I love you more than anything," Tadashi responds, smoothing his little brother's hair down and wishing that his otouto knew just how much he meant to him.

" You're an amazing brother." Hiro mumbled, tightly holding his niisan.

"You still think that, even after everything you know about me now?" Tadashi asks, feeling somewhat surprised.

"Yes!" Hiro said with conviction. "Nothing you ever do could possibly change how I see you. You're an amazing niisan who I know is so strong. I'll always love you."

"T-thank you..." Tadashi's honestly left speechless by his brother's words and, unable to stop himself, he hugs him even closer and begins to softly cry into the younger's hair.

Hiro held tightly onto his brother and let him cry, unsure what else to do for him. "I'd do anything for you, bro. You mean the world to me."

"I know you would," Tadashi mumbles, feeling both grateful for his sibling's reassurance and also extremely exhausted as both the lack of sleep and the after effects of the panic attack hit him at once. Barely able to keep his eyes open at this point, he pulls the younger boy back down onto the bed with him and snuggles him close. "I love you Hiro," he says softly, feeling safe with his little brother wrapped protectively in his arms and so grateful that he has such an amazing otouto.

Hiro snuggled up against the elder, eyes instantly feeling heavy from exhaustion. He felt emotionally drained from everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. There was so much he felt like he needed to ask his brother, but he didn't think either of them could handle that right then. So, content with the knowledge that for now his niisan would be ok, he let himself drift off to sleep.

Tadashi feels his otouto relaxing against him and, content that his brother is going to be okay, he allows himself to finally fall into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Tadashi awakes to the sun on his face. He yawns, seriously glad that he doesn't have classes today and for the fact that Aunt Cass had actually closed the cafe for the day so she could prepare for an upcoming trip, so it doesn't really matter how late he'd slept in. Stretching, he becomes aware of a tiny form pressed up against his body and smiles slightly as he realizes that Hiro's still there, curled up and looking absolutely adorable. For a moment he just lies there, not wanting to move and risk waking Hiro up, breaking the spell of the quiet moment. But then suddenly he catches sight of the wall clock and his eyes go wide. 9 am?! Oh no, Hiro should have been in school over an hour ago! With everything that had happened the previous night, neither of them had thought to set an alarm. For a moment he panics, worrying about just how much trouble his little brother is going to get into. But then he forces himself to stop and relax. Honestly, this is only just one morning, and after everything they'd just gone through, he thinks that Hiro having a couple of absences due to a "family emergency" isn't going to kill him. Besides which, considering everything Hiro had told him about what was going on at school, his little brother seriously deserved a break, and that's exactly what he was going to get. Still, it's probably best not to have him sleep through the whole morning, so Tadashi gently shakes the boy's shoulder to wake him, saying softly, "Good morning sleepyhead."

Hiro groaned when he felt something shaking him awake. He didn't want to wake up, he was warm and comfortable. He snuggled up against the warm body that was next to him and grumbled, "No, sleep."

Tadashi honestly doesn't have the heart to turn his brother down when he's being so adorable and snuggling up against him like that. Still, when his own stomach starts growling loudly he knows that he's not going to be able to stay in bed much longer, so he decides on a compromise. Grabbing some blankets, he wraps his little bro up into a fluffy cocoon and starts carrying him downstairs with him so he can get started on breakfast while still letting his otouto get a little extra sleep.

Hiro hummed contently and snuggled up against his brother. He wasn't entirely sure why Tadashi decided to do this, but he was very happy he was. Maybe he could convince his brother to let him skip school today!

Tadashi feels his heart melt slightly as Hiro nuzzles up against him, and he has a seriously hard time actually putting him down once in the kitchen, but he knows that he'll have to in order to get breakfast ready. So, carefully laying the boy down on the counter, he heads over to the fridge and starts rummaging through it to find the ingredients for scrambled eggs.

Hiro whined when Tadashi set him down and shivered. He would much rather be snuggled up against his brother, but he would never admit that out loud. It was so much warmer up in his bed with his brother. Why did they have to move?

Tadashi hears Hiro let out the tiny moan and instantly hates himself for having let his little bro go. So, awkward as it is, after quickly moving the ingredients to the table, he picks Hiro back up and lays him across his lap as he sits down and starts cracking eggs into a bowl.

Hiro sighed contentedly and nuzzled against his brother. Sleep, sleep was good.

Tadashi was somewhat stuck as to what to do when he had everything mixed, but, not wanting to force Hiro to get up, he just takes grabs the bowl and starts using his legs to pull the chair over to the stove.

As the smell of cooking eggs filled the room Hiro's stomach started to growl, slowly starting to wake him up.

"Hey, looks like someone's finally awake," Tadashi says with a slight smile, looking down to check on his little brother as he continues to stir the eggs.

"Food?" Hiro mumbled, still only half awake. He tiredly looked up at his brother, momentarily confused as to how he got down into the kitchen

"It'll be ready in a minute," Tadashi reassures him, using the free hand to ruffle the boy's hair. "Did you sleep well?"

"Good, cuz I'm starving," Hiro mumbled, slowly waking up. "And really good actually."

"Glad to hear that," Tadashi tells him, feeling glad that the previous night's drama hadn't caused Hiro any further nightmares. Honestly, the two of them had both been so exhausted by everything that had happened that they probably just hadn't had the energy to have any dreams. He fluffs the eggs one last time to make sure that they're done and then pulls them off the burner. "Hey, think you can get up for a minute so I can get out some plates?" he asks his otouto, gently helping him back up to a seated position.

"Fine," Hiro dramatically sighed, getting onto his feet. As Tadashi gets to his feet and reaches up for the plates, his sweater slides down to reveal the cuts on his wrist, flooding the younger boy with the memories from last night. He wondered if it would be ok to ask his brother about that now, or if it would be too emotional for him.

"Hey, you okay?" Tadashi asks, turning back only to find Hiro staring at him and feeling confused, only to cringe slightly as he realizes that his scars from the night before were showing. Definitely not the best thing for his little brother to see first thing after waking up in the morning. How could he have been so careless? Honestly, he'd gone for years without Hiro ever having to seen any signs of his cutting in the past-he guesses he's a little bit out of practice with keeping them hidden.

Hiro gently reached out and took Tadashi's injured wrist, cradling it in his hands. "Why did you... when did you...?" he awkwardly began, unsure if it was ok to ask him these things. He didn't want to set his brother off again, but a part of him was desperate to know what caused him to get to this point.

"Um... maybe we should sit down to do this," Tadashi answers, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. Honestly, if anything he's glad that Hiro's initiating this and it's actually sort of comforting to have his little brother holding the wrist that had spent so many years as a battlefield of warring emotions. Gently, he reaches down and moves Hiro's fingers so that they're actually touching the scars, wanting his otouto to know that it's okay and that he's a part of this now. Then, offering his brother a soft smile, the older leads him over to the table. Not really wanting to let him go yet, Tadashi sits down on a chair and pulls the younger boy up onto his lap. "What do you want to know?" he asks, slowly rubbing his little brother's back in hopes that it will help make him feel safer and more comfortable during this exchange.

Hiro was surprised that Tadashi was ok with him touching the scars, but didn't question it. He started gently running his fingers along the lines in what he hoped was a comforting way and asked, "What made you start?"

"It was pretty much right after Mom and Dad died," Tadashi explains with a slightly sad smile. "I had gone from being a kid who had an amazing home with two parents who loved me and a little brother who was pretty much the most important thing to me in the world to suddenly being an orphan and being afraid that my otouto wasn't even going to make it through the night." He hugs Hiro a little closer as he remembers those dark days. "Having your whole world flipped upside down like that-it was way too much for any kid to take. I was scared and hurting and I just had so much pain inside that I had no idea what to do with. I felt like-like somehow I needed to get pain outside of me before I completely drowned in it. I was reading the books in the teen section of the library at that point, so I knew about cutting. I was scared of the idea at first, but there was one really bad day when the doctors told me that they didn't think that-that you were going to make it, and so-" He takes a long breath to calm himself before continuing, "When everyone was gone and I was alone in the room with you, I went over to the tray where the doctors kept the surgical tools-I guess they'd forgotten to put them where I couldn't get to them, probably not thinking that I'd actually use them-and I just grabbed a knife at random and I tried to cut myself. I was actually sitting right next to you when I did it because I was so scared and I didn't want to be alone. I pretty much just barely scratched skin-I didn't realize then that it took a lot more pressure than that to actually draw blood-but it was enough. I put the knife right back-I was pretty much terrified by what I'd done and started crying, but when Aunt Cass came in later she thought I was just super upset about you. I was, of course, but I also had no idea what to do about the fact that I'd just purposefully tried to hurt myself and I felt like I had no one to talk to about it-well, not until later that night, anyway." He has a funny look on his face as he adds this last part.

Hiro slowly nodded his head, guilt filling him. So he had been the reason Tadashi started cutting himself. Hiro continued to rub the scars. "Who did you talk to?" Hiro asked, confused. Who could he have talked to about this? Their Aunt?

"I'm not sure exactly how to describe him," Tadashi admits, shaking his head slightly, a slightly faraway look in his eyes as he remembers the night. "Honestly, sometimes I think I probably dreamed the whole thing, but I can remember it so vividly. It was late-the doctors had actually let me spend the night in your room for once. I was curled up on a chair next to your bed, having almost cried myself to sleep, when suddenly there was a really bright light in the room. I closed my eyes against it, and when I opened them, there was a man standing in the room. At first I thought it was Dad, because he looked so much like him, but when I looked closer I saw that he wasn't. Still, he seemed really nice and when he spoke to me somehow I got the idea that he didn't want to hurt me. He came over and kneeled down next to my chair and told me that he knew how much I'd been through and that he'd been sent to help me get through everything that was coming. I asked if he was an angel and he just sort of gave me funny smile and said that he was something like that. We talked for a little bit more, and he seemed to know absolutely everything about me, even where I'd cut myself earlier that night. Then he tucked the blankets in around me and told me to go to sleep because everything was going to be okay. I did, and when I woke up in the morning, he was gone, but somehow-somehow I felt like I actually could get through whatever happened next. And later that day, the doctors told us that you had turned around and that you were actually going to get better!" Tadashi blushes slightly as he finishes. "I-I know that must sound crazy, but I swear that it happened."

Hiro was silent for several minutes, unsure what to say. On the one hand, he was glad someone was able to comfort Tadashi, on the other the idea that some man might have just waltzed in knowing that his brother had cut himself without telling anyone unsettled him. Had the man been spying on them? Was he _still_ watching them? "I-I don't think it matters whether it was a vivid dream or it really happened... I-I'm just kind of happy someone was able to comfort you after what I... after that..." Hiro finally manages to get out.

Tadashi nods his head, smiling slightly and missing Hiro's obvious discomfort. "After that, I still had my dark days where I didn't think I could keep going-that's where all of this came in." He gestures to his wrist. "But whenever things got too bad, sometimes I could still swear-I don't know, like he was still there to give me the strength to keep going on." Tadashi gently kisses the top of Hiro's head, wanting to reassure him that everything was okay. "Eventually Aunt Cass found out about my cutting, and she helped me get past it. Honestly, a lot of it was just me having to decide that I didn't need to keep relying on it to help me deal with the pain. I tried the ice cube and rubber band tricks, but neither of those really worked for me. I ended up finding that art really helped, though-if I could get my hands on a sketchpad or some sort of sewing project I could really lose myself in that. Music was helpful too-if I could find the right song, I'd just play it over and over on my headphones until I felt like was sort of floating along on the music and when I came back to reality, I'd at least feel a little bit better."

Hiro, still clutching Tadashi's wrist, wrapped an arm around his brother and mumbled, "I'm sorry I caused you so much pain... and for not being there for you before...h-how long had it been since you'd cut?" He squeezed his brother as best he could while still holding his wrist, hoping that if he held on long enough Tadashi would never have the urge to hurt himself again.

"Oh my gosh, Hiro, it wasn't your fault!" Tadashi quickly hugs his little brother closer, fighting off the weird sensation he sometimes got in these moments with Hiro that someone or something else was trying to take over-this was his time with his otouto, and he wasn't going to let anyone interfere with it. Honestly, he's itching for a blade to be able to physically cut through the semi-fog, but he settles for mentally imagining doing so and that at least partially works. "You had absolutely nothing to do with this! No one is to blame for what happened. Maybe I just had some weird chemicals getting mixed in my brain at the time, maybe I just had a predisposition towards it, but it certainly wasn't your fault. Like I told you last night, you were what kept me fighting on when the depression got to be too much-if anything, you're the one responsible for me still being here today. In fact, it was on your birthday five years ago that I finally stopped doing it-I figured that the best present I could give you was to try to take better care of myself, and I haven't picked up a blade since."

"You hurt yourself last night because I opened my big mouth," Hiro whispered. "You've always been so strong a-a-and I'm so proud you were able to stop but then I went and ruined it." He knew he should just shut his mouth before he hurt his brother more, but he couldn't help himself. "I'm scared I'll do something that will hurt you again..."

"Hiro, you didn't cause me to hurt myself," Tadashi answers, gently starting to play with his little brother's hair like he always did when Hiro got worked up over something. "I did that to myself. And honestly, if you think that it's because you brought up Mom and Dad, you do realize that me and Aunt Cass bring them up several times a month and I never have panic attacks like that? Honestly, it's sort of like playing Russian roulette with my emotions-I never know exactly what's going to trigger me off, and I try to be careful not to do anything that would cause me to start thinking about self harm, but I think it would be worse to never mention mom and dad at all than to talk about them and get hurt occasionally. Does that make sense?"

"I-I guess..." Hiro mumbled. "I just... I hate seeing you hurt, and if something I say is hurting you... I don't want to do it. Ever. I love you way more then I feel any need to know about our parents. Like, a billion times more, actually." He tightened his grip around Tadashi, wishing he could take back what he'd caused. Though his brother insisted it wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel he was to blame still.

"You seriously have no idea how much that means to me," Tadashi says, hugging his little brother close and gently mingling his fingers in the younger's raven locks. "I'm just sorry that I'm not strong enough to be able to tell you everything that you want to know-the stuff I should be able to, but I just...can't."

"It's ok," Hiro assured, holding Tadashi as tightly as possible, burying his face in his brother's chest. "I still love you. I don't need to know everything now... or ever. But if you want to talk I'm here. Always." He continued to stroke the cuts, wishing he could heal them instantly.

"I appreciate that," Tadashi says, laying his cheek on the top of Hiro's head and actually feeling at peace for once. "I'm actually sort of glad that you know now. I never wanted you to have to find out because I didn't want you to feel scared, but maybe it's better this way. Brothers shouldn't keep secrets like this from each other."

"Yea..." Hiro agreed, the guilt from lying about the bot fights rising up again. Why, why did he have to go and always ruin things? A part of him wanted to tell him so badly, another though was scared Tadashi would hate him, or worse.

Tadashi suddenly feels his chest seize up a tiny bit as a small wave of anxiety hits him and he has to force himself to take a few calming breaths. "Um, Hiro?" he says, gently moving his little brother so that they can actually be looking at each other. "One thing you should know about my panic attacks-as much as I am really, really glad that we could have this talk, I-I can't exactly talk about this stuff for too long because sometimes brings the bad stuff back, so do you think...maybe we could hold off on talking about anything serious for a little bit?" He offers his otouto a weak smile, hoping that he'll be able to understand.

"Ok, how about I tell you about some ideas I have for inventions?" Hiro asked, deciding that with how Tadashi is right now was probably not the best time to tell him about the bot fights.

"Hiro, I would love nothing more," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin, squeezing his brother's hand in his own. Then, feeling his stomach rumble again, he adds with a laugh, "Well, that and some breakfast. You ready for scrambled eggs?"

"Sounds good, I'm starving!" Hiro exclaimed, grabbing some eggs for himself before sitting back down again. "So, I overheard Aunt Cass saying how she wished she could see Mochi as a kitten again because he was so cute and I got thinking, what if we could make something that temporarily turned someone back into a kid, or baby animal? It would be so fun seeing your pets as babies again, don't you agree?" He took a large bite of eggs as he waited for Tadashi to answer.

Tadashi grins as he scoops out his own eggs. "I love it! Aunt Cass would totally flip if we could make Mochi a kitten again for a little bit, and it's totally something worthy of the Hamada bros' time and talents!"

Hiro grinned excitedly at his brother and continued, "I was also thinking about how cool it is you know how to sword fight and it made you seem even more like a super hero which got me thinking about energy blades! They would be able to cut through steel and you'd be able to use them instead of dad's and not have to worry about damaging it!"

"That...actually has some distinct possibilities," Tadashi agrees after a moment's thought, smiling slightly as he imagines it. Then he shakes his head as he comes back to reality. "Hey, wait a second, I'm not planning on using blades of _any_ sort for a little bit here." He ruffles his brother's hair affectionately. "As much as I appreciate the whole superhero thing, pretty much all I'm concerned with right now is being your brother and keeping you safe, and that _doesn't_ include going off and trying to fight crime with energy blades!"

"Fair enough," Hiro agrees, trying to keep calm. How could he, though, when his brother was making him feel like the center of the universe? Unable to contain himself, he threw his arms around his niisan and whispered, "I love you Tadashi. You're just... amazing."

Tadashi could swear that someone had seriously just shot about thirty gallons of sugar and caffeine through his veins because hearing Hiro say that pretty much left him feeling like he could do anything he put his mind to, up to and not limited to giving his little brother the world if he asked for it. "I love you too Hiro," he finally whispers back, hugging his brother close and never wanting to let him go. "And for the record, you're not just amazing-you are hands down the most epic otouto in the world."

"Thanks Dashi..." Hiro mumbled, feeling a blush creep up on his cheeks. "You've always got to one up me don't you?" he asked, tightening his grip around Tadashi.

"Well, I'm the older brother, it's sort of my job," Tadashi replies with a laugh, happily squeezing Hiro right back.

Hiro laughed and melted in his brother's arms, promising himself to keep the smile on his brother's face no matter what.

Tadashi wishes that they could stay here snuggling in the kitchen for the rest of the day, but, sadly, he knows that that can't be the case. "You do realize that I'm going to have to get you to school soon, right?" he finally asks with a sigh which says he'd really rather not have to do so but as a responsible older brother he knows he has to. He can't exactly go around supporting truancy, can he?

"Noooo," Hiro moaned, burying his face in Tadashi's neck. "Can't we just stay here?"

"I wish we could, buddy," Tadashi answers, wishing that it wasn't so seriously painful to let his little bro go. "But I really don't think you can afford any more absences this year, and, besides which, I've got some school work that I've got to get done before tomorrow."

"But Dashi..." Hiro wined clutching onto his brother. He didn't want to go to school. He wanted to stay at home. School was pointless, he could pass every test without coming to a single day of class.

"I know, I don't want to have to send you back to school either," Tadashi admits. "But tell you what-would it make you feel better if you I pack you your favorite lunch and make you a promise that I'll find some way to make this up to you?"

Hiro whined and clutched his brother tightly, wishing he didn't have to go. Quickly realizing it was a lost cause, he looked up at Tadashi and hopefully asked, "Gummy bears?"

"As many gummy bears as you want," Tadashi promises, gently ruffling Hiro's hair. "Maybe even an almond butter and gummy bear sandwich?"

Hiro sighed and reluctantly agreed, "O-okay..." He hated school, but he knew Tadashi would want him to go. He just hated leaving after what had happened last night... "I'll come home if you need me too," he added.

"Trust me, I will," Tadashi promises, reaching down to lightly tousle the boy's hair and feeling touched by the fact that his little brother cares enough to come all the way home just to make sure that he was all right. "Now, how about you go get your backpack while I pack your lunch and then I can drive you over, okay?"

"Good," Hiro said nodding his head. "Ok, I'll be right back!" He exclaimed running upstairs to grab his bag.

Tadashi shakes his head slightly, never fully able to understand where Hiro gets all of his energy from, and then sets about packing the lunch. By the time Hiro returns with his backpack, he has an almond butter and gummy bear sandwich, a bag of Hiro's favorite chips, and a pudding cup neatly bundled in a brown paper bag. "Ready to go?" he asks, handing the sack over to his little brother and lightly ruffling the younger's hair.

"If I have to," Hiro sighed, smiling up at his brother.

"Sadly, yes," Tadashi agrees, giving him a sympathetic smile. "But hey, on the plus side you at least get one of the coolest rides to school, right?"

"That's true." Hiro laughed "it would be even cooler though if you let me add rockets to it."

"Sorry bro, but no one touches Bae," Tadashi responds with a slight smile, giving Hiro's shoulder a friendly shove. Honestly, he was probably waaaay too protective of his motor scooter, but after everything it had gotten him through, he thought it deserved at least some degree of respect, and that did not include adding rockets.

"Oh come on!" Hiro groaned, rolling his eyes. "Your motor cycle is more important than your brother?"

"It's not," Tadashi answers with an amused smirk, "but a) rockets are not exactly safe or legal, and b) Bae is extremely sensitive, and you know that he has to be treated right if you want him to actually function right. He's about as finicky as a cat, and if you get on his wrong side chances are we'd end up being stranded for a whole month before he finally forgave us."

"I don't believe you!" Hiro declared dramatically. "I bet I could get Bae to cooperate with me."

"Not to hurt your feelings bro, but Bae hasn't liked you since you tried to install a rocket launcher on him five years ago-it's a miracle that he still lets you ride him!" Tadashi answers.

"I think Bae is mad that I _didn't_ put the launchers on him!" Hiro declared, smirking.

"Trust me, he's not," Tadashi replies, folding his arms over his chest and feeling amused by the friendly banter. "Now, do you want that ride to school or not?"

"Yes I would love a ride," Hiro sighed. "Will you pick me up after school too?"

Tadashi winces guiltily. "Actually, I've got a paper I've got to finish this afternoon," he admits, hating himself for it. He quickly adds, "But, hey, if I can get it done while you're at school, then maybe I'll be able to have some time to hang out with you this evening?"

Hiro sighed and mumbled, "Ok... Well, you better get that paper done, then!"

"Hiro, please don't be upset with me," Tadashi pleads. "You know that you'll always be more important to me than school, but you know that it's important for me to do well in college too! How else am I supposed make sure that we can get Hamada Bros inc off the ground?"

Hiro smiled and replied, "I know, I know... I just... I wish that I could enjoy school more too, you know?"

"Me too," Tadashi agrees, feeling sad that because of some bad teachers and mean classmates Hiro had so completely lost the joy of school, something which he had so used to enjoy as a kid. If only there was at least one bright spot in it for him, maybe he wouldn't hate it so much... Wait a second, that was it! "Hiro, come on!" the older Hamada cries, excitedly tossing the younger boy a helmet. "I think I may just have something which will help!"

Hiro caught the helmet and followed his brother curiously. A part of him was dying to ask what his brother was planning, but the other part realized he probably wouldn't be able to get Tadashi to spill about whatever he was planning so instead he silently got on the moped after his niisan.

Tadashi navigates through the streets of San Fransokyo with relative ease. He has to force himself to be extra careful since he's excited and he knows that can mess with his judgment, but fortunately the two of them manage to make it to Hiro's school in one piece.

"Come on, I think we'll be able to make it before your lunch period starts," Tadashi says, hopping off of the scooter as soon as he finds a parking spot in front of the school and motioning for Hiro to follow him.

Hiro pulled off his helmet and raced after his brother, extremely confused. What could Tadashi possibly do to make school better?

Tadashi leads Hiro through the halls and right up to the front office where he knocks gently on the glass. "Ms Matthews? Are you there?"

"Oh mah stars, do my ears deceive me, or is that Tadashi Hamada that I hear?" a cheerful voice replies from somewhere in the back.

"It's me!" Tadashi agrees with a grin.

"Hold on just a second sugah, I'll be right there!" A minute later a woman with a beehive of bright red hair and dressed in a collared shirt and blue jean skirt comes bustling out from behind a curtain and hurries up to the window. With a flourish, she slides the glass open and then reaches across the counter to pull the older Hamada into a warm embrace. "Oh, Tadashi, it is you! It's been too long! How are ya, darlin'?"

"I'm doing fine, Mrs. Matthews," Tadashi answers, hugging her back.

"So, what brings you back to these 'hallowed halls of learnin''?" Mrs. Matthews asks once she lets him go, putting one hand on her hip and giving him an amused smile which could pass as a smirk, obviously not afraid of making fun of her place of work.

"I'm actually dropping my little brother off," Tadashi explains, gently ushering Hiro forward. "Hiro, I believe you've met Mrs. Matthews?"

Hiro shrunk down slightly and mumbled, "I think I've seen her once or twice..." He hated talking to any of the staff, they all treated him like a stupid child.

"Well, how do ya do?" Mrs. Matthews says, offering him a cheerful grin and gesturing for him to come closer. "Mah goodness, you're the spittin' image of your brother when he was your age! And if I had a bet, you're just as adventure and mischief prone as he is, am I right?" She gives the boy a friendly wink.

"That he is," Tadashi agrees, fondly ruffling Hiro's hair.

"Is that why the two of you are showin' up late?" Mrs. Matthews asks, resting her chin on her hands and not looking at all displeased by this idea. If anything, she looks downright amused by it.

"Uh... no," Tadashi answers, turning slightly red. "Actually, that would be my fault." He rolls back the sleeve of his sweater, holding her arm out for her to see. "I had a bit of a rough night last night".

Hiro looked at Tadashi in amazement as he showed her his scars, he must really trust her to so willingly show them to her. How long had she known about this? And why had he trusted her and not his own brother?

"Oh, Tadashi, honey, you didn't!" Mrs. Matthews cries. "I thought that you'd stopped that back in Freshman year!"

"Don't worry, one time offense," Tadashi promises. "Trust me, I haven't forgotten all the pep talks you gave me after you caught me doing it that one time in the janitor's closet and the number of times that you let me hide out in the back of your office. Actually, that's sort of why I'm here."

Mrs. Matthews nods her head, as if satisfied but still somewhat worried by Tadashi's answer, and then looks at him with curiosity, motioning for him to go on.

"Well, y'see, Hiro's sort of having some problems with bullies too," Tadashi explains, hoping that his little brother won't mind him disclosing this fact, "and I was wondering if maybe he could use 'The Haven' when he needs it too."

"Oh, sugah, I would be more than happy to help out another one of the Hamada boys!" Mrs. Matthews's whole face lights up and she hurries over to unlock the door that leads into her office, excitedly gesturing for them both to come inside.

"C'mon, you're going to love this!" Tadashi whispers to Hiro, gently pushing him forward.

Hiro frowned slightly as Tadashi so casually mentioned cutting at school but pushed the thought aside for now. At least he hadn't willingly told her over him. Hiro couldn't help but appreciate how concerned the secretary was for his brothers health. Maybe they could get along. He reluctantly followed the pair into the office, unsure as to what he'd find.

"Welcome to the Haven!" Mrs. Matthews says once the door is firmly shut, pulling the patterned curtain aside to reveal a hidden back room to the office. "Safe place for victims of bullyin' and, to be perfectly honest, probably the downright coolest place on this whole campus!"

"It's just like I remember it!" Tadashi says, beaming as he enters the little hidden sanctuary. The whole place is pretty much a conglomeration of everything that teenagers love: Brightly colored cushions and bean bag chairs litter the ground. A gigantic bookcase filled with everything from sci-fi adventure to romance to fantasy mangas stands next to a little work table where crafting and building tools of all sorts are littered. A basket full of every sort of junk food imaginable sits atop a fully stocked mini fridge, and on the opposite wall from the bookcase is a table set up with a laptop and a towering stack of DVD box sets.

"Pretty epic, right?" Tadashi nudges Hiro gently, waiting for a response but already guessing what it will be from the look on the younger's face. "I spent most of my free periods and lunches in here."

"And now you're more than welcome to as well," Mrs. Matthews says with a wide grin.

Hiro looked around the haven in awe. He walked over to the bookshelf, amazed at all the different types of books it held. His eyes kept going back to the tools that sat on the nearby bench though. That was very tempting to play with. This place was pretty epic, but would it really help him with bullies? He deflated slightly when he asked, "H-how often do students come in here?" He was sure that there wasn't a single student who didn't hate his guts. This place wouldn't do much for him, awesome as it was, if many students came through here regularly.

"None, at present," Mrs. Matthews responds, putting her hands on her hips with a smile. "I always make it a rule to only have one student at a time who knows about the Haven. For one thing, if too many knew, the word would get out somehow and then it wouldn't actually do any good since the bullies would know exactly where to find them and would end up waiting around the corner over there to cause them grief. For a second, while the school administration is extremely, and I mean _extremely_ good about not seeing things that they don't want to see around here, if they ever actually found out, they'd probably shut this place right down. Originally I just made this place for relaxin' when it was really slow in the office, but then about twenty years ago I had my first case of finding some poor roughed up kid out in the hallway and brought 'em back here, and that's how it all started. Ever since Tadashi graduated, I've been keepin' my eye out for the right replacement, but hadn't found one until now. I'm more than glad to happy to bring you on if you'd be interested."

"R-r-really?" Hiro whispered, eyes lighting up. If no one else would come here, he could actually be safe—well, at least when he wasn't in the classroom. "I-I don't know what to say..." he whispered, finally looked at Mrs. Matthews."Thank you doesn't seem like enough..."

"I'm honored to do it," Mrs. Matthews says with a smile. "I'm honestly glad that there's somethin' I can do since no one else seems to be lookin' out for you kiddos."

"I super appreciate this, Mrs. Matthews," Tadashi tells her with a relieved grin, putting his arms around his little brother. "You have no idea how much better I feel knowing that Hiro's at least got one safe place here."

"I think you're the only one who actually cares..." Hiro admitted. "And thanks, Dashi... this means a lot..."

"Absolutely," Tadashi replies, murmuring the words into his little brother's hair and hugging Hiro closer. Honestly, now he's actually starting to have separation anxiety.

"You two are absolutely adorable, you know that?" Mrs. Matthews says with a bemused smile. "Seriously, I think I need to take a picture of this!"

Hiro's face turned bright red as he tried to wiggle out of his brother's grip. Tadashi though kept an iron grip on him. "N-n-no pictures please," he mumbled. "Aunt Cass has enough of those to last a life time..."

"But I don't have any, so you two hold still," Mrs. Matthews answers with a good natured laugh, grabbing her cell phone and snapping a photo. "All right Tadashi, you can let him go now, I've got it!"

"Do I have to?" Tadashi asks, hugging Hiro closer and giving him the puppy dog look.

With a smirk on his face Hiro said, "Well I guess not. Now I won't ever have to go to class or learn or do anything productive with my life."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Tadashi sighs, letting Hiro go, but not before ruffling his hair fondly. "I'll see you at home after school, okay?"

"See you later nerd," Hiro laughed. Turning to Mrs. Matthews, he asked, "So, what period is it right now?"

"Well, the bell's just about to ring for lunch, so how's about you and I-"

Tadashi sneaks out the door as Hiro and Mrs. Matthews talk. Honestly, he feels much better now, knowing that Hiro at least has one person looking out for him. It's still hard to leave him, but he forces himself to keep walking until he's back outside and at the parking spot where he'd left Bae. Honestly, you'd think he was a parent dropping their kid off for their first day of school, not an older brother dropping off their younger brother who was near the end of his senior year of high school! Still, he can't help but look longingly back at the doors, wishing he could go back in. No, though. He shakes his head and puts the keys in the ignition. He'll just have to trust and pray that Hiro will have a good rest of the day and do his part by getting that research paper done so that he can spend time with his brother with he gets home that night. He smiles as he imagines it-it'll be the first time in a long time that they've actually spent time together, and he promises himself that someway, somehow, he is going to make sure that it's an amazing evening. With that happy thought in his head, he drives off down the street and towards home.


	4. Chapter 4

Tadashi hides in the hallway, peering around the corner and waiting for just the right moment to strike. He hears Hiro coming up the stairs and tenses, getting ready. Just a few more steps and- "Snuggle attack!"

Hiro walked down the hall after a long and, quite frankly, rather rough afternoon at school. He knew he should start on his homework but it was so boring. He was thinking about sneaking off to go to a bot fight to blow off some steam when he was suddenly knocked over by his older brother.

"Hey! What was that for, nerd?" he cries.

"Because, knucklehead, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever and I wanted to show you that I still love you!" Tadashi responds, ignoring his brother's squirming and playfully ruffling his hair.

Rolling his eyes Hiro tried to wiggle out of his brothers grasp and replied, "Yes I love you too, nerd, but didn't we see each other this morning?" He huffed in annoyance as Tadashi continued to playfully ruffle his hair.

"Well, yeah, but that was just this morning," Tadashi replies, giving him his best puppy dog look. "Seriously, when's the last time we actually spent time together?"

Hiro hated when his brother used that pout, he couldn't say no to him when he did. As much as he hated to admit it, it had been a very long time since they had done anything together outside of eating rushed meals. It was about time they did something together, like they'd been talking about that morning. "I guess that's true... do you want to build something awesome?"

"Aces!" Tadashi grins, glad that Hiro's agreeing to this. Sure, he knows that the kid probably has homework to do, but in this case he's willing to let school responsibilities in favor of saving their brotherly relationship. "What were you thinking?" he asks.

"I've had this plan for months now that I've been dying to build, the cat rocket boots!" Hiro excitedly told his brother. It had been far too long since The Hamada Bro's Inc. built anything. "I know Mochi will love it!"

"Cat...rocket boots?" Tadashi's danger sensors immediately went off. This did not, under any circumstances, sound like a safe or a good idea. Sure, they'd been joking about it forever, but there were a thousand and one things that could go wrong. Hiro looked so excited, though, and it had been so long since they'd actually done anything together... He might not get another chance like this. So, throwing caution out the window (at least for the moment) he nods. "Okay, let's do it!"

"Yes! Come on let's go!" Hiro exclaimed grabbing his older brother's arm and dragging him to their room. He pulled out the journal his brother had given him years ago and started excitedly flipping through it. "I'd forgotten how many cool inventions I'd designed... check this one out! It's a bed that throws you in the air instead of just having you jump on it! Oh and here's the plans for a hover cart! Oh man, this is going to be so much fun! Hamada Bro's Inc. is back in business!" He had forgotten how much more fun inventing was with his older brother helping.

Tadashi smiles-he knows that there's no way he's going to let Hiro build most of those inventions, but hey, who is he to stifle his creativity? Let him come up with all of the fun ideas that he wants, and then big brother can work to make sure that the end product is safe. "Well, little bro," he says fondly, "You'd better pick which one you want to do-I don't think we can do all of those in one day!"

Grinning mischievously Hiro replied, "Who's to say we can't do it all? I mean, we haven't done anything fun since you started college." He smiled up innocently at his brother, knowing that he couldn't say no to him. Part of him knew he should feel bad for manipulating his brother, but Tadashi was the one who started it, using the puppy dog eyes.

Oh gosh. Those eyes. Fourteen years and Tadashi still couldn't say no to them. "Nng... fine, okay, we'll do all of them," he says after a minute's internal struggle. It was better to give in to the inevitable now than to try to fruitlessly fight against it. He grabs the keys to the garage off of the wall. "We still have plenty of ramen and soda stocked up in there, right?"

"Come on then! Time's a-wasting!" Hiro exclaimed, excitedly following Tadashi down to the garage. "We have more than enough supplies to keep us up all night if need be!" Despite having used manipulation to get his brother to do this with him, he really was excited. So many inventions had been swirling in his mind begging to be made, but it hadn't felt right working on them alone.

"All right then," Tadashi laughs. He follows his brother and unlocks the door. As he opens it, the smell of stale air "whooshes" out at them. He feels momentarily sad-it really has been a long time since they've spent time in here. But then he forces himself to shakes off the feelings of guilt. That's what tonight was about-fixing things. "Okay, I'll grab the tools, you grab whatever supplies we're going to need," he says, flipping the lights on.

"Ok!" Hiro exclaimed, running around in an excited frenzy trying to gather everything they could possibly need to do it all. Soon the workbench was overflowing with supplies for all the epic inventions they would be making. He honestly couldn't wait for the sugar rush from all the sodas and gummy bears that would inevitably be consumed. "You ready, bro?"

"Totally," Tadashi agrees, holding up a screwdriver. "Let's get building!"

Despite how long it had been since the pair had worked on something together, they quickly got back into sync, handing tools to each other and seamlessly working around each other without having to say anything. Hiro wasn't sure how long they worked, without a clock in the garage he could only guess based on the number of empty soda cans and candy wrappers that littered the area. Eventually, though, three inventions sat before them, all begging to be used.

"So, which one should we try out first?" Hiro asked, shaking with excitement—or, maybe it was a sugar rush. It was hard to tell at this point.

"Well, honestly I didn't think we'd get this far, so I'm not sure," Tadashi responds, rubbing the back of his neck. How they'd managed to get all of this made in such a short period of time is a complete and total mystery to him. It had been exhausting, but it had been well worth it seeing his brother so happy. Putting his hands on his back and stretching, he says the first thing that comes to mind: "Let's use the Mochi test, like we used to. Put Mochi on the table and let him pick which device is the coolest."

"Yeah!" Hiro exclaimed. "I'll go get Mochi!" He ran out of the garage to the second floor of their home where their Aunt was.

"Hi Aunt Cass!" he called as he scooped up Mochi. "Bye Aunt Cass!" Before she could even say anything, he raced back into the garage and where he set Mochi down in front of the inventions.

"Go on Mochi," he cooed, gently nudging him forward. "Which invention should we try out first?"

Tadashi has to hold back a laugh as Hiro baby talks the cat. It's completely adorable, but he knows that Hiro will kill him if he says anything about it.

The finicky feline picks his way through the inventions, looking them over one by one, and then with a purr he happily settles down next to the rocket boots.

"Well, it looks like you're going flying, buddy," Tadashi tells his younger brother with a grin and a friendly nudge.

"I hope Mochi is ready to make history," Hiro muttered as he knelt down next to Mochi. "Can you put the boots on him while I keep him calm?" he asked as he reached over and started petting the cat. "Are you ready to learn how to fly?" Mochi purred contently and nuzzled against the younger Hamada. "Don't worry Mochi, this is going to be fun."

Tadashi momentarily questions his sanity in allowing himself to go along with this, but he does as Hiro instructs and tries to get the boots onto the cat's paws. He unfortunately manages to get a few small scratches from the cat's claws, but within a few minutes, all four mini rockets are in place. "Okay, ready for launch, cap'n!" Tadashi says, giving Hiro a mock salute and trying not to show how worried he is about how all of this is going to go down.

Grinning, Hiro replied, "Launch in three...two...one... LIFT OFF!"He knew Tadashi was terrified, but he knew this was going to be epic. Soon they will have created the world's first flying cat. He turned on the boots and Mochi was flying. Though he was extremely excited, the cat looked terrified, meowing in terror as he zigzagged around the garage.

"Come on Mochi, I know you can do it!" he cheers **.**

"Okay, he's looking pretty stable," Tadashi says, feeling relieved. He's glad to see Hiro so happy-it's been a while since he's seen anything more than a ghost of the kid's old smile-but all the same, he pities the poor feline. "Well, we know that it works now, so maybe it's time that bring him back down?" he suggests, hoping that Hiro won't think he's being a killjoy but still worrying for the cat's safety.

Hiro wanted to let Mochi keep practicing, but he didn't want to push his luck, so, reluctantly, he agreed, "Okay..." They did have two other inventions to try out, so maybe it was for the best. As long as his brother was hanging out with him, he would do whatever-not that he'd ever tell Tadashi that. He couldn't look too sappy in front of him. He quickly got Mochi down and pulled off the boots. Once the cat was free, he ran out of the garage and up the stairs, meowing angrily.

"So, what next?" Hiro asks, turning to look at his brother. "The bed jumper or the hover cart? I don't think Mochi will help us pick this time…"

"Hm... considering how upset he is right now, I'd say we'd be smart to use the hover cart and get out of here," Tadashi answers, glad that Hiro's actually listening to him for once. Besides which, although he doesn't want to admit it, he honestly is pretty excited about trying out their new flying device. He cracks the garage door open and looks outside. It's still dark out. That means that there will be less people out on the streets than there would be during the day. "You ready for an adventure?" he asks Hiro with a slight grin.

"Let's do it!" Hiro exclaimed, grabbing a helmet and strapping himself in. He bounced excitedly in the hover cart, dying to take off. A part of him wishes it was daytime so that more people could see their incredible hover cart, but he also knew his brother would never let them fly if their where a bunch of people in the streets. "Ready for launch commander?" he asked, puffing out his chest.

Tadashi pulls the garage door the rest of the way open and then gets on in front of his brother. No way is he letting Hiro sit in front where the majority of the danger was. As it is, he hopes that the pillows they'd added for padding will cushion the majority of the blows, should they run into danger. "On three," Tadashi says, strapping on his own helmet and safety harness. "One... two... three!" He pulls the lever that will start the machine, and a moment later the craft is hovering off of the ground. "It-it works!" he cries, almost in disbelief. He'd never dreamed of defying gravity twice in the same day, and yet here they were. "Ready to take this baby out for a spin?" he asks, giving Hiro an excited smile as he reaches for the throttle.

Hiro wished Tadashi would let him sit up in front, that was the best spot to be in. But he also knew how weirdly overprotective his brother was, so he let it slide.

"You know it!" he exclaimed in response to his niisan's question, watching in excitement as Tadashi dramatically pulled the throttle and sendt them flying out of the garage. The younger boy let out a whoop as they rocketed through the streets, startling some of the few pedestrians that were out. They were defying gravity! "This! Is! Awesome!" he shouted over the wind, and then let out a cry of alarm as he spotted a bus heading straight towards them. "Look out!" he shouts.

"Oh, shoot!" Tadashi quickly swerves out of the way of the approaching bus. Fortunately, his years of experience driving his motor scooter around the streets of San Fransokyo have made him a fairly good driver and he manages to safely take them off down a little side street. "Okay, we are staying off of the main roads from now on," he tells Hiro, focusing his full attention on the street in front of them.

"Aw, come on!" Hiro whined as his brother pulled off the main road. "Where's your sense of adventure?" He knew Tadashi could handle driving the main street on this, it wasn't that different from a real car. His brother needed to learn how to have a little more fun!

"My sense of adventure, knucklehead, is in the back of the police cruiser we're going to end up in if we get caught operating this thing on public streets, particularly if we freak people out enough to cause some accidents," Tadashi shoots back, not really upset with him but not about to let his brother forget that there were certain laws of society that they had to conform to.

"Well... what if it's on my bucket list to get arrested once?" Hiro cheekily asked, knowing it was futile to convince Tadashi otherwise. "Besides, it's only illegal if you get caught." Why was he so against having a little fun?

"Things that are illegal stay illegal whether you get caught or not," Tadashi tosses back, never one to miss a chance to instill some sense of morality in his brother. "And as for you getting arrested? Yeah, that's gonna happen... _over my dead body!_ "

"Yea, yea," Hiro dismissively replied, not really paying attention to what he was saying. "You'd seriously only let me get arrested if you _died_? That seems pretty intense." As much as Tadashi's over protectiveness bothered him, he was touched that his brother cared so much. His niisan would never let him live it down if he said as much, though.

"Hey, I promised mom and dad that I was going to look out for you," Tadashi responds with a slight smile. "I couldn't do that if you're locked up in Juvey."

"Hey... thanks... for today and... everything I guess..." Hiro awkwardly mumbled a few minutes later, part of him hoping Tadashi hadn't heard him, the other part hoping he did. They were brothers, they we're supposed to get all sappy like this! He blamed Tadashi for making him act like this.

Tadashi heard it all, but he knows better than to embarrass Hiro-if he does, his little brother probably won't talk to him for the rest of the month, and he certainly doesn't want that! "It was really nice for me too," he finally replies after taking a minute to think over his words. "As much as I love my work in the lab, it gets a little too stuffy sometimes, y'know? I sort of lose sight of what's important." He turns back to give Hiro a half-smile.

Hiro could scarcely believe it. Tadashi really thought he was important. Despite all the screw ups and stupid stunts he pulled, Tadashi thought he was more important than college. As thrilled as Hiro was, things were getting a little too sappy for his taste, so he merely responds, "Well, I think that's enough testing for now. Why don't we head back before we get arrested? We do have one more invention to try out…"

"True that," Tadashi agrees, turning the hover cart towards home, but glad that they'd had this time to talk. And the evening wasn't over yet…

Hiro would never admit it, but he was relieved when they made it home without running into any police officers. As much as he teased about getting arrested, he'd actually like to avoid it if possible.

"Are you ready to try our final invention?" he asked once they'd touched safely back down on the garage floor, leaping out of the cart and then jumping up and down in excitement.

"Totally," Tadashi agrees with a grin. Of all the inventions, this seems like the least dangerous. Plus, it's appropriate since it is almost bedtime. After a certain incident where they'd almost broken through the ceiling, they'd been banned from actually jumping on the beds in their own room, and so this was going to be a real treat. Still, he does take a moment to remove the pillows from the hover cart which he'd for now stashed in the back of the garage (they'll have to figure out what to do with it long term later) and spreads them out on the floor around the bed. "Don't want you falling off and cracking your skull open," he tells Hiro before his little brother can protest again about him being overprotective. "You need that brain of yours in your head, not on the concrete."

"Hey I've got some brain to spare," Hiro informed Tadashi before jumping up on the bed they'd built. "Besides the concrete could use some brains." He loved his brother, but sometimes he was borderline crazy when it came to protecting him. Once Tadashi had settled on the bed beside him, Hiro pulled the lever and the bed started moving.

Tadashi laughs as they're thrown up into the air the first time. It looks like they'd gotten this right-just the proper amount of thrust to put them a little ways into the air, but not enough to catapult them halfway across the garage. Seriously, it's been way too long since they'd last done this. Speaking of which... He grins as he remembers just what had happened during their last infamous bed-jumping session and what had almost caused the collapse. Before, they'd had to worry about breaking through the living room ceiling. Now, though, there was nothing below them but solid concrete. And if Hiro was so unconcerned about safety... A mischevious smirk on his face, Tadashi lunges for his little brother and starts mercilessly tickling him.

"Tadashi!" Hiro shouted as his brother tickled him. He tried to tickle him back, but his niisan had longer arms and easily kept him from doing so. For someone who was so concerned about safety, Tadashi was seriously disregarding his at the moment! As the younger Hamada tries unsuccessfully to fight back, he gets a mischievous idea. Leaning over so he was start to slip off the bed, he shouted, "Tadashi I'm falling!"

"Oh my gosh!" Tadashi's eyes instantly go wide with horror as he sees Hiro starting to go off the side of the bed. Instinct kicking in before he can even think through what's he's doing, he launches himself over the edge and lands right below his otouto on the floor. "It's okay, I've got you!" he cries, pulling his younger brother to his chest and wrapping his arms tightly around him, feeling intensely guilty for almost having caused such a terrible accident. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Hiro kept his expression innocent as he replied, "Yea I'm fine... thanks..." He tried to not feel guilty about what had just happened-he thought his brother would pull him up, not throw himself on the ground! Luckily, Tadashi had thought to throw a few pillows down, or else that would have hurt a lot more. The older Hamada really didn't care much for his own safety, but luckily he had his otouto who would worry about him. "I'm kinda more worried about you. Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm totally fine," Tadashi lies, trying to grin and not show that his spine is seriously starting to hurt. As long as his little brother's safe, that's the important thing. "I may...just stay down here for a minute, 'kay?"

"No, I should get you upstairs!" Hiro argued, seeing through his brother's lie instantly. Why had he had have to do that? Now Tadashi was hurt and it was all his fault! "You could be really hurt! Maybe we should go see a doctor or something."

"No, no, I'm okay," Tadashi tries to protest, starting to get up but then hissing as pain shoot ups his back. "Gah! Okay, yeah, it actually does hurt," he admits, lying back down on the pillows, a slight grimace on his face.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry, Dashi! Should I get Aunt Cass?" Hiro exclaimed, suddenly terrified he'd caused his brother to get a serious back injury. He hated causing his brother pain, but sometimes it seemed like that's all he could do...

"No, I'm fine!" Tadashi insists. "I just need to rest for a minute." As careful as he was about everyone else's health, he ranked very low on self-preservation skills. Partly he hated being made a fuss over. Partly he was just stubborn and would never admit to it when he actually got himself injured. And partly, as much as he hated to say it, if he was honest he just really didn't like going into doctors' offices. He of all people, with a mother who had been a medical researcher and who was himself actually planning on doing his robotics project on something that involved the medical field (he wasn't sure exactly what the project would be yet, but he knew that's what he wanted to focus on), should have known better than to be afraid of going to see a healthcare professional. But that doesn't change the fact that he is. He mentally sighs, wishing that someone would invent a way for people to get medical care without actually having to go to see a doctor...

Wait a minute. Tadashi jerks upright as the idea hits him, not caring about the pain in his back as he does so. Maybe there is a way! Maybe this is the answer to all of his problems-to all of the world's problems! "Hiro, get me a notebook and a pencil!" he tells his little brother, his eyes lighting up with excitement as the creative gears in his mind start turning in his mind and a million and one ideas start flowing through his head as if someone had just opened the water main that led to his inventing center.

Hiro looked at Tadashi in confusion, slowly going to get what he'd asked for, feeling too guilty to deny him that.

"Uhh, bro, you better not be writing you will because I will bring you back and kill you for not getting help when you need it," Hiro jokes nervously as he sat down next to Tadashi, who was still laying on the floor, and passed him the book and pencil, awkwardly trying to move some pillows so he'd be a little more comfortable. "Seriously, though, what are you doing?"

"I'm not writing my will," Tadashi responds, waving his brother's concerns off as he starts frantically scribbling on the page, not wanting to lose a single idea. Every second counted when it came to designing a new and possibly life-altering project, but he still manages to respond, "I think I may have just come up with an idea that's going to totally change the world!"

"Change the world?" Hiro asked, lying down next to his niisan. "That's real humble bro..." He looked over the plans in confusion, not able to tell what exactly Tadashi was sketching. "What is this going to be?" he asks curiously.

"You know how every time we get into an accident or something bad happens to us, we have to go to go all the way to the doctor's or the emergency room to get patched up?" Tadashi responds, ignoring the "humble" jab. His scribbling slows as his sudden inspiration burst comes to an end, but even though it may have been short, he feels satisfied that he'd done. Knowing how curious his brother can be, he hands the notes over to Hiro. "What if there could be a device that could take care of all of that-that people could have in their homes to take care of them when they got injured or sick? How amazing would that be?"

"This actually looks pretty good," Hiro replied. He knew that this would make Tadashi's head explode, but he couldn't deny the idea was ingenious. "This sketch, though...it kind of looks like something you'd see in a horror film, not in a hospital. Wouldn't you want a nurse that looks... welcoming?"

"You're right," Tadashi admits after a minute, taking the notebook back and letting out a long sigh. "It's needs to be something people wouldn't be afraid of to go to for help. Something like a dog or a teddy bear or-Baymax!"

"Baymax?" Hiro asked. "Where did you come up with that?"

"You remember!" Tadashi replies, growing more excited. "Baymax-that little robot doll that mom made for us when we were kids? The one that I never let out of my sights for more than five minutes? I just found him in an old keepsakes drawer not that long ago, and he'd be the perfect model! C'mon, let's go upstairs and I'll show you."

"Do you think you can walk?" Hiro asked, standing up and holding out a hand for his older brother to take.

"Well, I can try," Tadashi responds. He takes Hiro's hand and tries to pull himself up, only to have to instantly lay back down when the pain that comes from putting any pressure on his spine still proves to be too much to handle. "Nope," he says, shaking his head and feeling slightly embarrassed. "Looks like I'm grounded for the rest of the night, little bro."

Hiro really wanted to get their aunt, but he knew Tadashi would know if there was anything seriously wrong with him, so instead he sat down and said, "If you're going to be stubborn about me not getting Aunt Cass, roll over."

"Wha-?" Tadashi wonders what Hiro's doing, but he obliges and moves himself closer to the bed.

Hiro settled next to his brother and started massaging his back, "You're hurt because I fell. The least I can do is try to make you feel a little better."

Tadashi tries not to let out a tiny sigh as he feels Hiro touching his back. Although he'd never admit it, his brother seriously gives the best massages ever. Between having inherited their mother's small hands, which were gentle and perfect for detailed work, and having built up the muscles in them from years of constructing robots, Hiro has the gift of being able to make every single moment of contact Heaven on Earth. Unconsciously, the younger brother manages to hit every positive pressure point until Tadashi's so relaxed that he can't even move. "Oh my gosh, Hiro..." he mumbles, stuffing his face into a pillow to prevent his younger brother from seeing the huge smile on his face.

Hiro smirked slightly as he watched Tadashi melt under his touch. His aunt and brother always swore he gave the best massages. He doubted that, but at least his niisan was feeling better. He hated seeing his brother in pain, and he hated it even more though when he knew he caused it. He massaged Tadashi's back in silence for several minutes, his smirk growing when he heard him make a contented sigh.

"Feel any better?" he eventually asked.

"Definitely," Tadashi agrees, not bothering to even hide his obvious pleasure this time as he rolls back over. "Thanks, Hiro. You're the best."

Hiro shifted uncomfortable. No, he wasn't the best. Tadashi would be so disappointing if he knew Hiro went bot fighting... "I'm not that great..." he muttered, refusing to meet his brother's eyes.

"Hey, don't say that." Tadashi instantly feels concerned by the younger's sudden change in demeanor. He quickly reaches up and runs his fingers along the outline of Hiro's face. "You're an amazing brother, and I couldn't be more proud of you!"

Hiro wanted to tell Tadashi everything, about his bot fighting and about how no one took him seriously, not even the teachers, how he dreaded going to school because of the bullies, how no one wanted anything to do with him because he was such a freak. Tadashi was the only person who wanted anything to do with him. But Hiro knew that would change the moment he found out about his bot fighting.

"Yea...sure..." Hiro muttered, refusing to look at his brother.

"Hey, you okay?" Tadashi asks, propping himself up on one elbow and feeling concerned. He knows that of late Hiro's been acting sort of off-he'd always been a little bit withdrawn since he started high school, something Tadashi can understand since he knows the amount of bullying that the younger had experienced over the years from his peers. But lately, at times it almost seems like Hiro's been purposefully avoiding. He'd thought it might have been his imagination or that it just seemed like that since he was feeling guilty about having to spend so much time in the lab. But now he wonders if there's actually something more going on below the surface. "You know that you can always talk to me about anything that's bothering you, right?"

Hiro wanted to trust that he could tell him, he really did. But how do you tell your older sibling you've been illegally bot fighting because that's the only place he felt accepted?

"Would you still like me even if I did something...bad?" he regretted saying it the moment the words left his mouth, but he had to know.

"Oh, Hiro, of course I would," Tadashi responds, enfolding his younger brother in his arms again. "I mean, I'm sure you'd never do anything wrong, but even if you did, I would love you no matter what."

Hiro buried his face into his brother's chest and wrapped his arms around him, unable to say anything. Tadashi was wrong, Hiro _was_ doing something wrong. But at least he knew now that he wouldn't hate him if he ever found out-something which he never planned on letting him do.

"Thanks, Dashi..." he whispered. "For all this... it's... been kind of lonely at school...can we do this more often? Minus the injury, of course."

Tadashi momentarily stiffens when he hears Hiro actually call him "Dashi"—he'd forgotten how much he missed Hiro calling him that. It was enough to completely melt his big brotherly heart, and he snuggles his younger brother closer. "Of course, _otouto_ ," he whispers back, lovingly massaging the back of his brother's neck and scalp, still marveling at just how small and fragile he really is. "I hope you know that no matter how busy I get, I am never, ever too busy for you."

It was the first time in a long time Hiro felt wanted. His teachers and peers made their dislike of him very clear on many different occasions. It was stupid, he knew it, and he knew he would get teased mercilessly for this if anyone found out, but he was just sooo happy to feel something other than hatred right now.

"I know I probably don't say it enough, but I love you nerd." he whispered, not quite wanting to break the moment but feeling like things where getting a little too mushy. He couldn't bring himself to let go of his brother quiet yet, though, so he tightened his grip around his niisan, hoping he knew that he was being sincere.

"I love you too, Hiro," Tadashi responds, trying to hold back tears at Hiro's sudden assertion and gladly holding his brother all the closer. He wishes that he'd never have to let him go-that he could just keep him safe here with him, forever and always.

"We should... probably get up... Aunt Cass'll be worried..." Hiro reluctantly muttered, but making no move to get up.

Tadashi had been thinking the same thing as Hiro, only in reverse-how long had it been since he'd actually held his little brother like this? As guilt starts to set in about having neglected the younger, he forces himself not to wallow in the dark feelings and instead promises himself that he's going to start making a special effort to spend more time with his little brother. College and robotics projects might be important, but they were nowhere near as important as Hiro was.

He laughs slightly as he hears the last statement. "You forget that I'm grounded, little bro," he reminds the boy affectionately. Then he grins as an idea hits him. "But I just might know how to make this work for us."

"Huh?" Hiro asked, confused. If Tadashi really couldn't move, then how could he make it comfortable for himself? Once again the younger Hamada was hit with the guilt from causing his brother pain. He just hoped his niisan wouldn't resent him for this. "What do you have in mind?" He really didn't want him to let go, but if it made Tadashi more comfortable he'd go with it.

"How would you like to have a sleepover out here, just like old times?" Tadashi responds, giving Hiro's hand an affectionate squeeze. "We can stay up late and watch cheesy old monster movies and eat gummy bears until we're sick. Sound good?"

Grinning, Hiro nodded his head and replied, "That sounds awesome! I'll get some snacks and you pick out some movies!"

"Great!" Tadashi smiles, glad that Hiro's so excited about the idea. "Pass me the tablet, and I'll get the playlist going."

Hiro did as instructed, and then called, "I'll be right back!" before heading off on a junk food-finding mission. He raced up the stairs and past a confused Aunt Cass once again, going through the house and grabbing as many sweets and sodas as he could carry before awkwardly making his back back down the stairs, saying, "All right, I think we're all set!"

"Whoa, are you planning on feeding an army?" Tadashi laughs when he sees Hiro loaded down with various sugary treats.

"Maybe," Hiro replied setting out the various sweets and drinks. "Do you count as an army?"

Tadash snorts slightly at the "Do you count as an army?" comment, and then holds up the tablet to show Hiro the lineup he'd put together. "Okay, so not exactly monster movies, but I've got the first _Lord of the Rings_ , _Star Wars: Phantom Menace_ , and _Back to the Future_. What do you think?"

"Ohhh, let's start with _Lord of the Rings_!" Hiro answers eagerly. "We'll have a nerd marathon!"

"Sounds good," Tadashi says, grinning slightly as he musses Hiro's hair and adds jokingly, " _nerd_."

Hiro stuck out his tongue and helped Tadashi get settled before curling up against his niisan and starting the first movie.

Tadashi honestly doesn't pay as much attention to the film as he usually would have-he's spending most of his energy on committing to memory the exact feel of having Hiro snuggled up against him. That may have sounded strange to most people, even a little off beat, but his intentions were completely pure. Tonight had reminded him of just how easily you could lose someone, whether literally or just emotionally, and he wanted to make sure that, no matter what happened, he had a firm memory of his brother fixed in his mind.

Hiro also wanted to pay attention to the movie, he really did, but he could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't know if it was him finally crashing from his sugar high or the fact that his brother was so warm and comfortable. Tadashi had always been Hiro's favorite pillow, so he simply allowed himself to enjoy just being with his niisan, having him right there beside him. He would never tell Tadashi this, but more and more he found himself associating him with being his father rather than a brother, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Rather than dwell on those thoughts, though, Hiro snuggled up closer to his brother, feeling his eyes start to drift shut.

Tadashi noticed Hiro drifting off and felt a slight warmth in his heart knowing that his brother felt safe enough with him to actually fall asleep cuddled up in his arms. It had been so long since he'd done that-probably the last time had been when they were kids. A funny smile crosses his face as he remembers how many times back then Hiro had called him "Daddy"- an easy mistake for a kid without any living parents to make. As much as he'd protested against it, finally convincing Hiro to compromise on "Dashi", honestly he'd been secretly honored and, truth be told, he had to an extent viewed Hiro as his own son. As wonderful as Aunt Cass was, she hadn't had the first clue about parenting, and Tadashi had been the one to read all the bedtime stories, clean all of the scrapes and cuts, brush out all of the tangles, and soothe away all of the nightmares. Of course he'd had to keep his boundaries-he hadn't wanted to encourage the poor kid to believe something that wasn't true and confuse him. What sort of an example would he be setting for Hiro if he suddenly changed his mind after all this time? Wait, what was he saying? He shook his head, trying to clear away those unwanted thoughts. Who'd said anything about changing his mind? He was Hiro's brother, and that was it. Still, he couldn't help but let the one word that he'd never dared pass his lips slip out of his slightly trembling mouth as he kissed the younger good night: " _Musuko..._ "

" _Musuko_..." Before Hiro could really process what Tadashi was saying Hiro drifted off again, a warm feeling in his chest.

Tadashi let the movie run to its end, and then, in the flickering light of the screen, he too finally fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hiro didn't want to wake up, waking up meant school, and he hated school. He knew he'd never be able to fall asleep, but he dreaded getting up for school. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and sat up, realizing he was in his room and not in the garage. Why would he be in the garage, though? He shook his head and slowly stood up, noticing there was only one bed in his room. A part of him wondered why that felt so wrong, but he shrugged and continued to get ready, passing by a mirror. As he glanced at his reflection, he realized something which seemed slightly odd-he was now a toddler. Before his thoughts could go any further, though, there was a knock on the door._

 _For a moment, Tadashi wondered what he was doing out in the hall-why wasn't he out in the garage? But then his mind cleared and he chuckled lightly to himself-why on Earth would he have been sleeping out in the garage? Staying up late grading all of those papers must have been giving him some really weird dreams. For now, he had a little boy to wake up before either of them ended up being late. As per usual, he knocks on the door twice, giving his son a moment of warning before entering. "Good morning," he says softly once he finally opens it, getting down on his knees to be closer to Hiro's height and holding out his arms to him. "How'd my little man sleep last night?"_

 _Hiro wrapped his arms around his dad saying, "Ok... I dreamed I was sleeping in the garage..."_

 _For a moment Tadashi feels slightly unnerved-how had Hiro had that same odd thought he'd had just a few moments ago? But he decides to let it go, blaming it on the fact that they'd both slightly OD-ed on rocky road and gummy bears the night before. "So, you ready for school?" he asks his son, lifting the little boy up in his arms and holding him close to his chest._

 _"Can I go to work with you, Papa?" Hiro mumbled, burying his face into his dad's neck. He loved it when papa held him. He wished he could stay with papa forever and not go to school where the kids teased him mercilessly. "The other kids are mean," he tells Papa. "But I like your friends."_

 _Tadashi bites his lip. He can honestly understand Hiro's predicament-it wasn't until he'd gotten to college that he'd actually found peers that he could actually enjoy being around. Technically he knows that Hiro's supposed to go to Pre-K every day, but honestly, what is the boy going to learn there that he can't learn at the university? Looking down into his son's eyes, he doesn't have the heart to deny him his wish. "All right,_ _musuko_ _," he finally agrees, burying his nose into Hiro's hair and inhaling the scent of his cherry blossom shampoo. "You can come with me-but just for today, okay?"_

 _"Really?" Hiro exclaimed, eyes lighting up in excitement. "Thank you_ _otousan_ _!" Hiro threw his arms around his papa excitedly. He would get to spend the whole day with his_ _papa_ _! He wouldn't have to go to his stupid school with the kids that teased him and a teacher who treated him like he didn't know anything. "I love you."_

 _"I love you too," Tadashi responds, laughing slightly as he hugs his son closer before putting him back down. "Now come on-if you're coming to work with me, we need to get you dressed!"_

 _Shaking from excitement, Hiro raced over to his dresser and pulled out the first shirt he found. He then ripped of his pajama top and tried to wiggle into the shirt, only to get stuck halfway in. He tried to take the shirt off to try again, only to find he was completely caught._

 _"Hey, slow down!" Tadashi laughs, making his way over to help him. "It isn't a race-just take your time," he reminds his son, guiding the little arms and head through the correct holes before kissing the little boy on the bridge of his nose. "Now, you ready for brush time?"_

 _Hiro giggled and replied, "Yes!" He loved it when Otousan brushed his hair. He could make it look so much better then when he tried to do it, and his brushing felt more like massaging then brushing._

 _"Okay then." Tadashi grabs the brush off of the dresser and, squatting down so he could be at Hiro's height, he starts slowly and gently running the brush through his son's thatch of raven hair. It was still a mystery to him how the little boy managed to get it so messy during the night, but, to be honest, he was somewhat grateful that he did because he honestly loved the feeling of the soft little locks coming smooth beneath his fingers._

 _Hiro sighed contently, nuzzling into the touch, loving how otousan ran his hands through his hair. He wouldn't mind staying home all day if it meant he'd keep brushing his hair like that._

 _Tadashi would have happily spent the rest of the morning snuggling with his son as well, but he did have classes to teach. "C'mon," he said eventually, putting down the brush with slight regret and scooping Hiro back up into his arms (even if he was old enough to walk by himself, Tadashi still loved to baby his son whenever he could). "You ready for some breakfast?"_

 _"Ok!" Hiro agreed nodding his head. He wrapped his arms around his papa and kissed his cheek saying, "I love you Otousan." He never wanted to leave his otousan- he wished he could go with him everywhere he went, but he also knew that at some point he'd have to go back to school with his mean classmates, so he'd enjoy every second he got to spend with otousan today._

 _Tadashi grins as Hiro kisses him, feeling incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful son. "I love you too,_ _musuko_ _," he tells his musuko, kissing him back. Then he shifts the little boy in his arms as they enter the kitchen. "Okay, so, what do you want for breakfast?" he asks, setting him down on the counter and opening the fridge so that they can both take a look at the options._

 _"Pancakes and gummy bears!" Hiro declared bouncing on the counter excitedly. "Or maybe just gummy bears!" He didn't really care what his otousan made for him, it was always super yummy. But he would never turn down gummy bears, especially the red ones._

 _"How about just pancakes?" Tadashi answers, quirking an amused eyebrow. Then, to stave off any complaints his son might have, he quickly adds, "And, if you're good, then we can have gummy bears with lunch, okay?"_

 _"Ok, otousan," Hiro agreed, "Can I help?"_

 _"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, knowing from experience how to get his son involved without causing a mess in the kitchen. "How about you hold the bowl for me while I add the ingredients?"_

 _"Yay!" Hiro exclaimed, tightly holding onto the bowl as Otousan slowly added and mixed ingredients. He noticed the bag of flour sitting next to him and, grinning mischievously, he scooped some flour out and threw it at otousan just as he turned to look at him._

 _"What the-?" Tadashi coughs slightly as the cloud of flour hits him. "Hey!" For a moment he wonders if he should scold Hiro, but then decides to retaliate by giving his son a taste of his own medicine. Reaching into the mixing bowl, he scoops up a tiny bit of the dough and unceremoniously puts it on the end of Hiro's nose._

 _Hiro giggled when otousan put dough on his nose and tried to lick it off, giggling even more when he couldn't get it off that way. He then scooped up a little more dough and put it on otousan's nose, giggling even more "Look, otousan, we match!"_

 _Tadashi couldn't be mad at Hiro when he'd just said something so utterly adorable. He was about to reply when suddenly his phone rang._

 _"Hiro, hold the bowl for one second, 'kay?" he says, making sure that his son has a firm grasp on it before hurrying off to grab his cell. A minute later, he found it and answered it in the typical fashion: "Hello, Tadashi Hamada speaking. How can I help you?" Years of working at his aunt's restaurant as a teenager had left him with the slightly overly formal greeting, but at least he'd gotten past the stage of accidentally answering the phone with, "Thank you for calling the Lucky Cat Cafe." On the other end he heard the head of his department and his old mentor, Robert Callaghan's, voice. Tadashi's eyes go wide as he listens._

 _"What?...You're serious?...The whole building?...Gosh, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do-...Oh, they've already got maintenance on it? Good, good... No, I didn't have anything planned aside from the usual lectures...They're canceling classes for the day?...Oh, no, of course, I completely understand!...All right, thank you for letting me know, and I hope that the cleaning up from the flood goes well... Okay, goodbye."_

 _Grinning slightly as he hangs up the phone, he heads back into the kitchen. "Well, Hiro," he says, putting a falsely serious expression on his face while trying very hard not to smile, "it looks like you're not coming to work with me today."_

 _Hiro's eyes filled with tears at his words. "But you promised," he whimpered. Why would he lie to him like that? Didn't papa love him? Why would he break his promise? Breakfast no longer looked so yummy, how could it when papa didn't want to spend time with him?_

 _Tadashi instantly feels intense guilt over making Hiro feel so unloved-those big brown eyes were enough to break anyone's heart-so he quickly adds the ending of his statement, "You're not coming with me to work because I'm going to be staying home with you instead!"_

 _"Really?" Hiro exclaimed, instantly perking up. "We get to spend a whole day together?"_

 _"We do indeed!" Tadashi replies, not able to keep a huge and ridiculous grin off of his face. "A water main broke in Ito Ishioka, the building where I teach, so we're flooded out and that means I get to spend the entire day with you!" He "boops"Hiro gently on the nose to punctuate the happy statement. "So what do you say, you ready to have some pancakes-with gummy bears and chocolate syrup?" Okay, so maybe that was completely unhealthy and he was going to regret it later when Hiro was on a complete and total sugar rush later, but hey, the kid's got the whole day to work it off, right? Plus once he crashes from the high, there's the happy prospect of getting in some intense snuggle time while watching afternoon cartoons on the couch._

 _"Gummy bears and syrup!" Hiro exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. First he got to spend the whole day with his dad, and now he gets to have gummy bears for breakfast! This was definitely going to be the best day ever! He and papa where going to have so much fun playing and building robots all day without anyone bothering them. He couldn't remember the last time they got to do this, his dad was always so busy grading papers or working on Baymax to play with him. But not today, he would make sure Tadashi didn't work all day!_

 _"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Tadashi smiles at his son's enthusiasm and then grabs a frying pan off of the hook on the wall to start the pancakes. "Remember, don't get too close to the stove while it's on," he warns Hiro as the pan starts to heat up and he begins doling out large spoonfuls of batter into it. "Do you remember why we don't get too close to a stove when it's on?" he asks-a teacher at heart, he never passed up a chance to turn everyday life into a lesson, especially if the lesson has to do with safety._

 _"Cuz it's hot and I could get burned!" Hiro excitedly replied as he watched Tadashi pour batter into the simmering pan._

 _"Right!" Tadashi agrees, proud that his son has been paying attention._

 _"When can I learn to use the stove?" Hiro asks eagerly._

 _"When you're a little bit older," Tadashi promises, ruffling his hair. "It takes a lot of practice to learn how to use it properly-even I have problems with it from time to time." As if to illustrate his point, one of the pancakes that had been in the pan for a little too long starts smoking and then spontaneously bursts into flames._

 _"Maybe you should get some lessons too, daddy!" Hiro laughed as he stepped away from the stove just like daddy taught him too._

 _"Oh gosh!" Tadashi quickly dumps the flaming contents into the sink and starts running water over them to keep the entire kitchen from going up in smoke. Once he's sure that there's no immediate danger, he starts laughing at Hiro's suggestion. "See, what did I tell you? Cooking isn't the easiest thing in the world," he responds. Sadly, it looks like their breakfast plans are changing, and for a moment he wonders if his musuko would be completely disappointed with toaster pastries instead of pancakes. Then he lights up as an idea hits him. "Hey, I know somewhere we could go where there's someone who_ _does_ _know what she's doing in the kitchen," he tells Hiro with a slight wink._

 _"Are we going to see Grandma?" Hiro asked, jumping up and down in excitement._

 _"Yep," Tadashi agrees with a grin, grabbing his keys off of the hook on the wall. "You ready to go?"_

 _"Yes! Come on, come on!" Hiro exclaimed, racing to the front door._

 _"Okay, hang on!" Tadashi calls after him, chuckling because his son reminds him so much of himself when he was younger-always so full of energy and always running two steps ahead of everyone. Out in the driveway, he opens the door to the car to let Hiro in (he'd had to retire his old motor scooter,_ _Bae_ _, in favor of something a lot more practical when Aunt Cass had insisted that she was not about to let her grandson be driven all over the city on a rickety death trap, and honestly, knowing of how many close calls he'd had on it over the years, he'd had to agree with her.) Then, after struggling for a few minutes with the car seat (he still wasn't an expert at using those), he finally managed to get his son buckled in and then climbed in on the driver's side. "All right, here we go!" he told Hiro, putting his keys into the ignition._

 _Hiro bounced excitedly in his car seat. It had been a long time since he'd visited his grandma. They would sometimes go when daddy burnt their breakfast or when he had to work and needed someone to watch Hiro. He couldn't wait to see her and eat her yummy pancakes! When the Lucky Cat Cafe finally came into view, he exclaimed, "Thank you, Daddy!"_

 _"You're welcome," Tadashi answers with a slight smile, reaching over to tousle Hiro's hair as they pull into a parking spot around back. "You ready to go inside?" he asks once he's gotten the little boy unbuckled._

" _Yeah!" As soon as he was free, Hiro raced inside ahead of daddy and ran inside the cafe shouting, "Hi Grandma!"_

 _Aunt Cass, who was serving tables, looks slightly confused as the two walk in. "What are the two of you doing here?" she asks, frowning slightly._

 _"Daddy burnt breakfast!" Hiro informed her, giggling. Something wasn't right, though. He kept hearing a distant voice calling his name._

 _Aunt Cass didn't seem to quite process what he'd said. "Shouldn't the two of you be getting ready for school?" she asked, wiping her hands on her apron and looking between the two boys as if scolding them._

 _"Well, we were, but school got canceled for today," Tadashi replies, wondering slightly at her somewhat sharp reply and having the odd sensation that he was somehow hearing her voice from somewhere very far away._

 _"Honestly, Tadashi, do you think I'd really believe that?" Aunt Cass puts her hands on her hips and looks at him disapprovingly. "I'd expect to get that sort of excuse from Hiro, but from you? Well, I need your help with my luggage whether school was canceled or not, so wake up."_

 _"I am up," Tadashi answers, wondering why the room was suddenly growing dark and fuzzy._

 _"No you're not, you're still dreaming! Come on Tadashi! Snap out of it!"_

"Ah!" Tadashi jerks slightly as his eyes snap open. It takes a moment for him to remember where he is, and then his mind clears slightly as he takes in the familiar surroundings of the garage.

"Honestly, I'd never have let you sleep out here if I'd known that the two of you were going to be such bricks when it came time to get up in the morning." The sound of Aunt Cass' voice startles him slightly, but then he breathes a sigh of relief as he sees her standing in the doorway and realizes that that part at least hadn't been a dream. The rest of the shattered fantasy world collects around him like a cloud of smoke, and he has to fight through it for coherency.

"G-mornin'," he manages to have mumble, still feeling half asleep as the initial shock of being awoken from such a vivid dream wears off and sleepiness hits him again.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Aunt Cass waves a warning finger at him. "No going back to sleep! I need your help this morning, so make sure that your brother's awake and then meet me in the front hall. If I don't see the two of you in five minutes, I'll be back with a bucket of ice water and we'll see how you like starting the day off soaking wet and frozen!"

Knowing that Aunt Cass always makes good on her threats gives Tadashi the added stimulus that he needs to get going. "C'mon Hiro," he says, turning to gently shakes his brother's arm. "You need to get up if you don't want to get doused by Aunt Cass.

 _Hiro distantly heard daddy telling him to wake up, but that didn't make any sense, he already was awake. Papa started shaking him, insisting that he needed to wake up._

 _"Papa I am awake!" Hiro exclaimed. He continued to shake Hiro, though, causing the dream to shatter before him._

Hiro's eyes snapped open and he was back in the garage, no longer a child. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the fog that had settled in his brain. That had been one vivid dream. If he was honest with himself, it had a good dream-a really good dream. No school and hanging out with Tadashi all day sounded like a lot of fun. He needed to get back to reality, though.

Tadashi smiles with relief when he sees that Hiro's awake, and then stumbles to his feet, still somewhat trying to wake up. "C'mon _musuko_ ," he yawns, heading for the door. "Aunt Cass needs our help with something."

Hiro frowned when he heard what Tadashi said. Surely he heard him wrong. He had just had a dream involving Tadashi being his father. Surely he was just hearing things.

"Wait what did you say Pa-... Dashi?" Hiro asked, still shaking off the shock of being called son by Tadashi. Did he almost say Papa? It had to be a huge coincidence, it was just a really vivid dream, nothing else. Right?

Tadashi froze right before reaching the door. He hadn't paid much attention he'd half heard Hiro mumbling something about "Papa" when he'd woken him up, thinking that he'd been having a vivid dream about their parents. But there it was again. Had Hiro just almost referred to him as...?

No, he was imagining things. It was wishful thinking, probably leftovers from the dream. And besides, now he had his own slipup to cover for now.

"Uh-" For two seconds he faltered over his words, trying to think of a half-decent excuse before blurting, "I said, 'C'mon, _Hiro_ , Aunt Cass needs our help with something.' Now move it, knucklehead, or we're both going to end up taking the ice bucket challenge, compliments of our aunt!" Then he hurries out into the hall, his face red. Part of him hates himself for lying to Hiro like that, and even worse for somewhat snapping at him, but what was he supposed to do? Admit that he'd actually called Hiro "son"? No way! He couldn't do that to the poor kid. So, as much as he hates to do it, he forces the amazing fantasy from the night before into the back of his mind and puts his full concentration on the day ahead.

Hiro frowned at his brother's hostility. Was he actually mad at him for hurting his back? Tadashi had said he wasn't mad, but maybe he'd been lying. Hiro hung his head and reluctantly followed his niisan to help Aunt Cass in silence. He quickly noticed his brother avoiding his gaze, which made him feel even more guilty. How had he not realized last night how angry he'd made him? It was supposed to be a fun night, and he'd had gone and ruined it. It was so stupid of him to think that Tadashi had ever referred to him as "son".

Seeing the obvious hurt in his little brother's posture when he leaves the garage, Tadashi feels an intense wave of guilt. He really shouldn't have freaked out on Hiro like that-it wasn't his brother's fault that he'd been having a weird dream. After something like that, there was certainly no way that he'd ever consider him his _otousan_. Still, even though he has no idea how to fix this, he knows he can't just leave things hanging.

"Hiro-" he starts, beginning to turn to his little brother, but before he can say anything more, Aunt Cass appears out of the kitchen.

"Ah, there you are!" she says brightly, apparently completely missing the tension between her two nephews. "Good, now you can help me put my luggage in the car!"

"L-luggage?" Tadashi looks at her in confusion. He vaguely remembers her saying something about that, but he'd figured it was just a part of the dream. "What luggage? Are you going somewhere?"

"Um, ye~es," Aunt Cass replies, giving him a slightly disapproving look. "I'm going to the Cafe Owner's Conference in Yuma, remember? I've been talking about this for months. Don't tell me you forgot!"

Tadashi doesn't respond. Apparently he had forgotten-his work at the college had sort of been taking over his life-but he wasn't about to admit to that. He glances over to Hiro to see if he's the only one who had completely blanked out on this.

Hiro could feel Tadashi's gaze on him, but couldn't bring himself to look up at him and see the disappointment in his eyes. Why did he always have to mess things up?

"Where are your bags?" he mumbled, hoping to not upset his niisan any more than he already had. This weekend was supposed to have been fun for them: no Aunt Cass and no school, which would have given them more time to goof off. But he'd just had to go and mess it up...

"In the living room," Aunt Cass responds, answering his question and pointing the way. Tadashi follows his little brother into the living room where they easily find the bags. There's only two, and without comment he takes the larger of them, not wanting to make Hiro have to struggle with a suitcase that's practically taller than he is. Then it's another silent trudge out to the car, in which Tadashi continues to feel like scum of the Earth for having hurt his otouto's feelings, but he still doesn't know what to do about it. Hiro's refusing to even look at him-definitely not a good sign. Why had he had to act like such a jerk when all he really wanted was to be closer to his little brother?

About ten minutes later the two stand on the doorstep, waving goodbye to their aunt as she heads off down the street towards the airport. Glancing down, Tadashi sees the time on his watch-6:45 am. He's still got plenty of time before his first class, and if he's not mistaken, Hiro's still got a little bit before the bus comes as well. If only there was something he could do to fix things between them so the next half an hour or so wasn't completely awkward and painful...

Suddenly his eyes go wide as a part of the dream from earlier comes back to him. Would it work? Well, there was only one way to find out. "Hey, _otouto_ ," he says softly, gently nudging his brother's shoulder, "how'd you like it if I made us some pancakes?"

Hiro's head snapped up when Tadashi mentioned pancakes, weirded out slightly. Hadn't dream Tadashi tried to make pancakes? Still, the younger boy immediately slumped over again and mumbled, "I don't want to cause any more trouble..." Why was his brother offering to make breakfast? Wasn't he angry with Hiro? Or was he just trying to fake it so their weekend wouldn't be awkward? Ugh, why did he always make Tadashi's life harder? He really didn't deserve such an amazing nii-chan...

"Hey, who said anything about trouble?" Tadashi puts a hand on his little brother's shoulder and looks directly into Hiro's eyes, holding his gaze. "If anyone's in trouble, it's me for being a jerk to you earlier. I never should have snapped at you like that, and there was no excuse for my behavior. I'm you're _oto_ -" He bites his tongue, silently cursing himself for slipping up again, but instead of making the same mistake as earlier, he quickly hurries on as if he hadn't, "your _niisan_ , so I should know better. Can you forgive me?"

Hiro ignored the slip up, sure he was mishearing things from the weird dream.

"You didn't do anything wrong, though," he muttered. "I should be sorry..." Unable to stop himself, Hiro wrapped his arms around his niisan and added, "I'm really sorry you got hurt because of me..." He really hoped Tadashi wasn't mad at him like claimed, but too often he'd seen someone 'apologize' to him just to make the teachers happy. There was no one else in the room, though, so maybe he meant it.

"Hey, that was my own fault for tickling you like that," Tadashi replies, momentarily partly feeling his own guilt for having started the semi-accident, but most of him unable to get his mind off the fact that Hiro was actually hugging him, completely unprovoked. Oh gosh, why did these sudden fatherly feelings have to hit him all at once when his little brother's this close to him? Feeling like he'd lost complete control of his own will, he kisses Hiro gently on the top of his head, and then sinks down to his knees so that he's at his brother's level and hugs him close.

Hiro shut his eyes and tightened his grip around his brother, a wave of different emotions hitting him all at once. Once again, he was tempted to tell Tadashi about the bot fights, but he couldn't bring himself to ruin the moment they were having. He hated how emotional he was getting-Aunt Cass swore that he was hitting puberty, which explained it a little, but he still didn't like it. He felt Tadashi squeeze him and realized he liked this, even if it felt cheesy. Then the younger boy's stomach let out a loud growl, causing him to burst out laughing and say, "Well that ruined the moment."

Tadashi snorted with laughter, part of him glad that Hiro had (unintentionally) found a way to break whatever sort of hold these odd emotions had on him, part of him hating to have the mood broken. "I'll take that as a 'yes' to wanting those pancakes," he chuckled, standing back up, but not before lovingly tucking a lock of his brother's hair behind his ear. He'd learned his lesson from earlier-no sudden movements, no sudden breaking away. Take it slowly, and never be afraid to overstate how much he loved his little brother, even if things felt a little weird.

Hiro blushed in embarrassment, part of him happy the mushy stuff was over, part of him wishing it wouldn't end. He was starving, though, so the mushy stuff could wait until tonight. His stomach was begging to be fed as h followed Tadashi into the kitchen.

"Need some help bro?" he offers before joking, "Don't want you starting any fires..."

Tadashi feels an involuntary twitch course through him. Pancakes catching on fire? How could Hiro possibly have known about that? Unable to stop himself, he replies as casually as possible while watching for Hiro's reaction, "Sure, I'll take some help-just so long as you don't start insisting on putting gummy bears on the pancakes, okay?"

How could Tadashi possibly know about the gummy bears? Hiro wonders with a slight jolt. But then he shook his head, feeling ridiculous. Tadashi knew how much he loved gummy bears, it probably had nothing to do with the weird dream. He was probably just mocking Hiro as usual.

"Aw, come on, you and I both know gummy bears would make the pancakes taste a hundred times better!" he declared while gathering ingredients, happy they were on speaking terms again.

Hiro's reaction was impossible to read-he had seemed mildly caught off guard by the statement, but then his response had just been so undeniably normal Hiro-ish that Tadashi decides to just let it go. He couldn't keep trying to make his dream fit with reality, no matter how nice it had been. Secretly, though, he knew that he would never forget it and he tucked it away in his memory for safekeeping, knowing that he'd probably be pulling it out during his lectures later and re-going over every adorable detail. For now, though, he has work to do.

Together, he and Hiro work together make the pancakes, working in perfect harmony just like the night before. Tadashi still doesn't let his younger brother too close to the stove-what can he say? He'll always be overprotective of Hiro, whether as his brother or something else. Once the breakfast is ready, he fetches a bottle of regular maple syrup from the pantry along with a jar of the chocolate hazelnut spread that both he and Aunt Cass are addicted to and brings them to the table. Then, feeling good-natured, he grabs a bag of gummy bears from the emergency stash in the kitchen (there's always a small reserve hidden somewhere in every room of the house) and tosses it to Hiro's place at the table. "Have fun with the sugar rush," he tells his otouto with a wink and a slight smile.

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, tearing open the bag of gummy bears and dumping them on top of his pancakes. He took a bite and sighed happily. It tasted just as good as he expected, if not better. He inhaled his pancakes while telling Tadashi about the robot he'd been working on in between bites. He hoped his brother wouldn't ask to many questions about _why_ he was building said robot. He wasn't sure what he'd tell his brother, but he just wanted to talk to him so their meal wouldn't be done in complete silence.

Tadashi absolutely loves breakfast, and it has nothing to do with the pancakes. Actually having Hiro talking to him so openly is wonderful, and he wouldn't have really cared if his brother had been talking about the weather forecast. As it was, it was adorable getting to hear about his latest robotics project (he didn't know if Hiro had a specific reason for building it, but honestly, he thinks that robot building is an awesome way to express oneself creatively and to burn off stress, so he doesn't press for details.)

As it got closer to the time for his bus to arrive, he couldn't help but wonder if he could convince his niisan he was sick and needed to stay home. It was very tempting to try, but he knew his aunt would be disappointed if he ditched school on the first day she was gone so Hiro refrained- only just, though.

"Have a good day at school, Tadashi," he said, gathering his things before making one last ditch attempt, "Unless you think we could pass off as sick… **"**

When Hiro suggests skipping school, Tadashi actually considers it for a full minute. Especially after the previous night's dream, he was beginning to rethink his strict policy about never missing a day of school if it meant rebuilding things between him and his brother. But then he shakes his head regretfully. "I've got a progress meeting with my mentor today, and I'd like to tell him about those new ideas I had last night for that nursing robot," he says. Before Hiro can use the puppy eyes on him and make him feel guilty, he quickly adds, "But hey, it's just the first part of the day, and then we'll have the whole weekend together to do all sorts of fun stuff together!"

Hiro sighed in annoyance but decided not to fight him on it. He knew how important these meetings were to Tadashi. Still, the fact that he'd caught his brother actually seriously considering skipped school was enough to make him grin slightly.

"I'll be holding you to that," he warned his brother as he headed for the door, shaking a finger at him. "No school work for you all weekend once I get home from school!"

Tadashi tries not to cringe-no doing homework? For the _entire_ weekend? Technically nothing was actually due on Monday, but still, as a borderline workaholic, the prospect is slightly terrifying. Seeing the expression on Hiro's face, though, he decides that he can make the sacrifice for him. "All right, no homework," he agrees, crossing his heart and then putting up his right hand. "Hamada brothers honor."

Hiro grinned and nodded his head, excited for what Hiro knew would be an epic weekend of inventing and sugar rushes. He knew his brother would keep his promise-when Tadashi promised something, he kept that promise, no matter what. Feeling cheered, he waved to his niisan as he walked out the door to catch the bus, a bounce in his step. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad since for once he had something fun to look forward to after it.

Tadashi smiles and waves as he watches his little brother go off to school, acting like nothing at all is out of the ordinary. Just a normal morning, right? Well, not exactly. Tadashi actually feels slightly relieved as soon as he sees Hiro board the bus and he can close the door. Leaning his head up against the wall, he lets out a long sigh, his mind wandering back to the dream he'd had that previous night while camping out in the garage with Hiro.

 _"Papa, can't I go to work with you?"_

" _I love you papa!"_

" _Look papa, we match!"_

"Oh gosh, why?" Tadashi puts his head in his hands, trying hard not to let the feelings that he'd been fighting for so long overtake him. It was just a dream-a really good dream, but a dream. And dreams like this were dangerous. They put thoughts into his head that had no place being there, ones that would only hurt Hiro if he knew about them. How many years had he spent when they were kids telling Hiro over and over again that he wasn't his dad)? It made sense, honestly- Tadashi had been the one to take on the role of the older male role model for his brother. Even when their parents had been alive, they'd often been so busy with work that in many ways Tadashi had always been forced into the position of parent.

But he'd spent so much time and effort trying to get Hiro to understand the truth, to think of him merely as his older brother. There was no way he could go back on that now. Hiro was already in an unstable enough position as it was emotionally, dealing with the usual teenage changes plus bullying on an almost daily basis at school. He didn't need Tadashi's overprotective nature manifesting itself in the form of fatherly feelings toward him.

Apparently this wasn't healthy for the elder Hamada either-he'd actually snapped at his little brother when he'd slipped up and called him _musuko_ while still half asleep that morning. He never snapped at his little brother! And then there was the delusional feeling that he'd kept having that somehow Hiro knew about the dream. There was only a tiny bit of circumstantial evidence-a few off the cuff remarks that had sounded scarily similar to some of the things that had happened in it-but that was probably all in his imagination.

Ugh, he needed to get past this. He needed to put it away before Hiro or anyone else got hurt. So Tadashi did what Tadashi did best-he took all of the unwanted thoughts and feelings and stuffed them waaaay down deep inside, locking them away with every other painful emotion that he'd ever experienced but had refused to let himself experience. That was the only way he knew of to protect Hiro. If he was being honest, though, he was actually mainly protecting himself.

He heads back up the stairs to finish getting ready for a full day at SFIT, where hopefully he can drown all of the remaining unwanted thoughts in a sea of lectures and work. As he wanders back through the bedroom, though, he can't help but pull up short next to the bookshelf where he still keeps a picture of Hiro as a little kid. Picking it up with slightly trembling fingers, he allows himself a moment to pick it up and hug it close to his chest. "Hiro..." he whispers quietly, allowing one single tear to course down his cheek. "If only you knew..."


	6. Chapter 6

((Special guest Professor Callaghan this week! :D))

"Professor Callaghan?" Tadashi knocks lightly on the door frame of his mentor's office. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He doesn't want to go inside without getting permission, but he's very eager to talk to the famed figure in robotics about the break-through he'd had the night before on his project.

Callaghan is busy looking through papers when he hears a light knock on the door. He can't help but smile when he heard Tadashi's voice, though. "Ah, Mr. Hamada, of course, come in," he says cordially. He always had time for his favorite student.

"Thank you." Tadashi gives him an excited but nervous smile as he enters, clutching his notes close to his chest. "Um, I just wanted to let you know that I think I had a break though on ideas for my project last night!"

The professor couldn't help but notice that Tadashi seemed nervous, but he gives him a reassuring smile in return. "That's excellent to hear, Tadashi!" he says. "Although I do hope that you got some sleep last night along with your inventing—you know how important sleep is to a healthy brain and body."

"Oh, yeah..." Tadashi's cheeks color slightly, stumbling slightly over his words as he remembers the events of the previous night and, even more so, the slightly confusing dream that he'd had. "Um, yeah, I did actually get a good night's sleep in...well, for the first time in a very long time."

Callaghan noted that Tadashi's cheeks colored slightly at the question, bless him. Still, it wasn't his business to try to figure out what the embarrassed look was about—his students' personal lives were just that: personal. "I'm glad," he tells the young man in a mild tone, not indicating that he'd noticed anything out of the ordinary. "Now, I'm quite intrigued to hear your ideas for your project."

"R-right." Tadashi hurries over to the desk and starts laying out his plans. As quiet and reserved as he usually is, when he gets excited about something, he pretty much loses all traces of shyness and barrels full ahead into it."See, Hiro and I were hanging out last night, and I sort of fell off of the bed during a tickle fight and hit my back fairly hard, and we got talking about how nice it would be if you didn't have to go to the doctor every time you get hurt, and then I got the idea for a nursing robot that people could have in their own homes to take care of them!" He barely pauses to take a breath before shuffling the papers so that an illustration of a puffy white robot is looking cheerfully back up at them. "I call him Baymax!"

He couldn't help but smile at Tadashi's enthusiasm, although he did feel slightly worried when he heard the young man mention that he'd hurt himself. "I hope you didn't injure yourself badly," he says, "although it wouldn't be the first time that a seeming accident has inspired a great idea. The concept of a nursing robot sounds quite promising—it has the potential to save countless lives. This may actually be just what the world needs!" He looks down at the sketches again, feeling a swell of pride towards his young protégé. "Baymax…" he can't help but chuckle. "I like the sound of that!"

"Yeah, I based the design off of an old robot doll that my mom made for me when I was little," Tadashi explains, absolutely glowing with pleasure at the high words of praise from his mentor. He pulls out another sheet of paper from lower in the stack. "This was my original design, but Hiro pointed out that it would probably scare off the patients. He helped me figure out how to make it a lot more approachable."

"Ah, I see." Callaghan nods his approval. "An inspired choice, I'd say. Basing it off of a plush toy gives it a more huggable design, providing people something they can identify with and putting at ease"

"Exactly!" Tadashi agrees, nodding his head vigorously. "Hugs are like nature's cure-all!"

"I quite agree." Callaghan fights down a smile-he swears that Tadashi's passion is contagious. "Now, Baymax will need to have lots of medical knowledge, but I'm assuming that you have already accounted for that."

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees enthusiastically. "My mom started that huge database of medical procedures when I was little, and I know that her coworkers continued on with it. I've still got unlimited access, and so pretty much all that I'd need to do is work on the motor coordination for the robot to be able to perform them!"

"Ah, excellent!" the professor says approvingly. "At this rate, it looks like Baymax will be saving lives within a short span of time! I will definitely be wanting to watch your progress on this project, and if you ever need any help, know that I'll be right here. SFIT can also provide you with anything that you need."

"Thank you so much!" Tadashi beams, filled with excitement that he's actually finally on his way to changing the world and making it a better place. Part of him wants to hug the professor but, deciding that it would probably be considered weird and completely unprofessional at his age, he settles on an enthusiastic hand shake. He's about to head out of the office so he can go have his mini celebration/freakout in private when he's suddenly sees a picture of a young Abigail playing with Callaghan hanging on the wall and it stops him cold.

"You're very welcome." Callaghan is unable to hide as smile as he shakes hands with his pupil. As the young man is starting to leave the office, however, he seems to take an interest in a photo of Callaghan's daughter hanging on the wall, and the professor can't help but say proudly, "Ah, yes, my dear Abi."

"Oh, yeah, I remember her!" Tadashi says with a warm smile, turning back to look at the professor. "She used to babysit me all the time! She was pretty much my favorite person on Earth until my brother was born."

Callaghan was glad to hear that Tadashi remembered his daughter so fondly. It brought up so many pleasant memories of his own from the days when he worked in the lab with his best friend, Tadashi's late father. "Ah, yes, Abigail did have a way with children," he notes softly. "And she's doing quite well now—she finally put those people skills to use and managed to land a job working for Krei Tech. It's what she's always wanted, doing technical research, and I couldn't be prouder of her. And it finally got her to leave the bot fighting circuit for good, which has done a great deal for my peace of mind."

"I'm glad." Tadashi nods his head, feeling genuinely happy for her. "She really deserves to do something amazing with her gifts." He can't help but feel his spirits dampen a little bit, though, as he thinks about his own little brother.

Noting Tadashi's drop in mood and knowing his student's main source of concern and stress, the professor says softly, "You're worried about Hiro aren't you? Still giving you trouble about settling down and starting to plan for the future?"

"Yes…" Tadashi admits with an embarrassed look. Did he really make it that easy for others to read his thoughts?

"Don't you worry," Callaghan says encouragingly, ignoring Tadashi's obvious discomfort. "He'll come around eventually. " He felt the urge to hug Tadashi but resists—that would be terribly unprofessional of him.

"Yeah, he's a really good kid," Tadashi agrees, trying not to slouch as the worry overcomes him-if there was one thing he'd been taught by his parents, it was never to slouch in the presence of your betters. Still, it's hard to act professional when he's being hit up with feelings that hit so close to home. "We were talking a few nights ago after Hiro had a sort of...accident that really scared us both, and I found out just how bad things are going for him in school. I mean, I knew that he was getting bullied by the other kids because he's so much smarter than them. But I didn't know that the teachers-the same teachers I'd respected so much-not only aren't helping him, they're trying to convince him to leave High School and go back to a grade with kids his own age! I mean, how messed up is that?!" Usually Tadashi didn't let himself get worked up by anything, but whenever anyone did something that hurt his brother, he can't help but feel intense anger and let a little of that venom slip out in his voice.

"While as an educator I can somewhat understand their viewpoint, I certainly don't approve of bullying or of teachers who let such miscreant behavior slide," Callaghan agrees. He understood Tadashi's anger-he'd be furious if a teacher had done that to his Abi.

"I just-I wish there was something I could do to make things better. Hiro's refusing to let me get involved, which I can understand-I wouldn't have wanted my dad to try to step in when I was getting bullied in high school. I just hate feeling this helpless, though, y'know?" Tadashi gives the professor a miserable smile.

"The main thing you can do is be there for Hiro when he comes home from school. It may not seem like much, but I'm sure he appreciates it, even if he doesn't always express gratitude to you," Callaghan answers. It broke his heart to see Tadashi so miserable. "I wish there was something I could do to help, but I'm about as helpless as you are to change your brother's situation. However, know that you don't have to go through anything alone—I'm always here if you need advice or even just a listening ear." This time he does put his arms out to Tadashi, but then hesitates. "Well, I know that a hug often helps in helps under these circumstances, but it is a bit unprofessional of me," he admits with an awkward chuckle.

Tadashi doesn't say anything-he doesn't need words right now, so he simply lets himself snuggle his head into the shoulder of the man who'd been like a father to him for most of his life.

Callaghan was a bit surprised by the suddenness and intensity of the hug, but Tadashi had always been like son to him, so who was he to deny him the comfort?

The younger man allowed himself to rest there for a minute, enjoying the feeling of not have to be the responsible one for once, to have someone stronger to lean on. It was almost like having his dad back, if just for a moment. Thinking about that, though, suddenly brought his confusion from that morning, and he straightens back up. "Um, Proffessor Callaghan?" he asks, turning slightly red as he tries to think of how to word his next question. "Can I ask you something...sort of personal?"

"Of course, you can always ask me anything," Callaghan answer with a reassuring smile.

"Um..." Tadashi rubs the back of his neck, slightly uncomfortable now that he was on the spot. He needed to talk to someone about this before he lost it, but he can't bring himself to address what he's experiencing straight out, so he decides to go about it in a roundabout sort of way. "How did you feel about Abigail when she was little-as your daughter, I mean? What sorts of emotions were you experiencing towards her?"

Well, that question was a bit unexpected, but he had promised to answer any question that Tadashi had and so he wracks his brain for an appropriate response. "Hm, let's see… Well, I was protective of her, of course. I always wanted the best for her. And, I've always been extremely proud of her and her accomplishments."

"That's what I thought." Tadashi crosses his arms over his chest, not sure whether to feel more elated or terrified that his suspicions were beginning to be confirmed.

"You feel the same way with Hiro don't you?" Callaghan plies gently, having picked up on the younger man's slight subtext earlier and put the pieces together.

"Wait, I didn't say-" Tadashi starts to protest, his eyes going wide with panic, and then he lets out a small sigh of defeat. "Okay, yeah," he finally admits after a moment's internal struggle. "Lately I have been sort of having a hard time with sort of seeing Hiro as my son. Is that-is that wrong?"

"I don't think it's wrong at all," the professor answers calmly. "If anything, it just shows how much your brother means to you. Hiro was quite young when he lost his father, so perhaps even he thinks of you as a father"

"Oh gosh, I hope he doesn't!" Tadashi cries, although a very small part of him seriously does wish that it was true. "I mean, seriously, the poor kid's dealing with enough on his plate-he doesn't need me to come in and start causing him an identity crisis by suddenly telling him that I want to be his otousan!"

"All right, perhaps overstepped my bounds by saying that," Callaghan admits. "Still, Hiro's lucky to have such a caring big brother."

"T-thank you," Tadashi stammers, looking down at the floor as his face turns slightly red.

"You're very welcome." Callaghan couldn't help but smile at how flustered the young man had gotten by the praise.

"I-I probably should get going now," Tadashi says, giving the teacher a quick half-bow. "I've got some homework to do before I head home-I sort of promised Hiro that I wouldn't do any over the weekend so we could spend time together while Aunt Cass is away."

"Absolutely-get that homework done so you can enjoy time with your brother," Callaghan answers with a warm smile before adding softly, "Take care, now...son."

Tadashi turns bright red, as if unsure of how to respond, and then nods to his professor. But before he heads out the door, he turns back and offers Callaghan a quick smile before saying, "Arigatou gozaimasu...otousan. (Thank you very much...dad.)"


	7. Chapter 7

Tadashi walks a little nervously up to Honey's cubicle. He peeks around the corner, just to make sure that he isn't interrupting some major chemistry experiment, and when he finds her just sitting on the counter apparently working on some notes, he takes a deep breath and enters. "Um, h-hey Honey," he says, hands in his pockets and trying to act casual but failing miserably. "H-how's it going?"

Honey looks up from her notes to see Tadashi walking in. "Oh, um, hi Tadashi!" She says with a smile. She had no idea her friend was coming to visit, it made her happy to see him walking towards her. "It's going pretty good!"

"Oh, good!" Tadashi winces slightly, kicking himself for using the same word that she just had. Why did he always get so tongue-tied around her? "So, um, whatcha workin' on?" he asks, trying to move the conversation in a more normal direction.

"Oh, it's nothing big ..." She looks down at her notes and frowns. "Actually ... It's nothing at all, really." She then crumples her paper up, stands up, and goes to place it in the trash. "Just some ideas that weren't all that great." She then decides to change the conversation, she didn't feel like discussing her failed ideas. She'd been in quite an idea slump for a little while now, and she didn't feel like explaining. "So, what made you decide to come see me?" She asks with a curious tilt of her head.

"Oh, um, I was sort of hitting a dead end too," Tadashi admits, his cheeks instantly turning a shade redder. It wasn't quite the truth, but he didn't want to sound like he was boasting about his breakthrough when she was apparently currently having some troubles. Quickly he hurries on, "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go get some coffee or something-you know, get some fresh air, maybe help us get the ideas flowing again? Of course, if you don't want to, I completely understand! I mean, it's not like you really know me or anything yet..." _Even though I'd really,_ _really_ _like to get to know you,_ he mentally adds.

"Oh ..." So many thoughts instantly flood through her mind. Isn't that technically a date? She asks herself. _No, it's not like that at all,_ She answers herself in her mind _. Are you absolutely suuuuure?_ She asks herself in a sing-song voice. _Yes I'm sure!_ She answers again.

After she realizes she has been bickering with herself for at least a minute now, she smiles brightly and says: "Oh, Tadashi! That sounds like a lot of fun!"

"Great!" Tadashi grins, feeling extremely relieved. For a minute there he had been worried that her lack of response had meant that she didn't want to go with him, but she seems cheerful enough about it now. The insecure part of him still wonders if maybe she's secretly just going along with this because she feels that she has to be polite, but he tries to shove those feelings down and hope for the best. "Um, I know a really great place not too far from here," Tadashi says, realizing that he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts for a minute and blushing even further. "It's not too far of a walk if you'd be interested."

"Oh, yeah, that's fine!" She says with a smile.

"Awesome!" Tadashi tries not to smile too widely, super excited by his success so far, and then freezes as he realizes that he has no idea what he's supposed to do from here. Would she just follow him? Is he supposed to offer her his arm? Would that be too formal? Worse, would she think he was being too forward? After a moment's mental debate, he decides to go for it-after all, you couldn't go wrong with chivalry. To keep things light, however, he put on an over-the-top British accent as he does so, pretending to bow as he says, "Right this way, mi'lady!"

She giggles at the polite and silly gesture and, deciding to play along, does the best British accent she can manage. "Why thaaaaaaaank you milord." She quickly does a silly little curtsy.

Tadashi laughs too, glad that she's going along with it. "Shall we?" he asks, offering her his arm.

"Oh ..." Honey can feel her face getting warm. "Um, o-ok." She cautiously hooks her arm around his, making her face an even brighter red. She didn't usually act like this around people. She didn't know why she felt so ... Uncomfortable? No, uncomfortable wasn't the right word. Hm ... Augh! She couldn't put her finger on it.

Seeing her blush, Tadashi wonders if maybe he is being too forward. Still, it would be rude to try to suddenly change things now, so instead he forces a grin onto his face and tries to keep things as casual as possible. "Are you more of a coffee or a tea person?" he asks as they make their way through the lab, deciding that this is a fairly safe topic to go with and, besides which, a potentially very important piece of information to know. If there was one thing he'd learned while working in his aunt's cafe, it was that you could actually tell a lot about a person from their favorite choice of beverage. Himself, for example-he was definitely a coffee lover, but only if it was made extremely sweet and smooth. That fit his high energy personality which was covered by a more gentle, laid-back exterior. Aunt Cass was obsessed with black tea-again, she had the sweet, calm exterior sometimes associated with tea drinkers, but her personality definitely had a kick to it. He waited with great interest to see what Honey's response would be.

"Oh ... Well," Honey had to think about that for a minute, surprisingly. It was a strange question to ask, but, oh well. She'd still answer it as best she could. "Um ... I actually think I like both, depending on how I'm feeling," she finally answered. "If I want to just sit and relax and just daydream, I prefer to slowly sip some nice herbal tea. But if I'm really feeling like going out and doing something exciting, usually coffee is what I drink."

"Nice." Tadashi nods appreciatively. That's a pretty good answer. "I'm definitely coffee-I need as much energy as I can get between school and working here in the lab. Plus, trying to keep up with my little brother is a full time job all in itself-that kid is absolutely wired!"

Honey giggles. "Aww, sometimes I wish I had a younger sibling," she admits. "I think it would be fun!"

"Do you have any older sibling?" Tadashi asks, finding himself getting caught up in the interest of the conversation.

"Oh, I'm an only child," Honey answers. "No brothers or sisters, younger or older. It was kinda lonely at home, y'know? Nobody to watch over. Nobody to really look up to either. You know , in a sibling kind of way?"

"Wow, I'm sorry," Tadashi says, giving her a sympathetic look. "That must have been rough. I don't know what I'd do without Hiro!"

"Ah, no it's fine!" she says, putting a smile back on her face. "I mean, I don't know if I'd still be the same person if I had any older or younger siblings." She then looks down at her arm that was intertwined with Tadshi's and turns slightly red. "So, um, where are we headed?" she asks, trying to keep things from lapsing into an uncomfortable silence.

Tadashi nods to her first statement, impressed by the wisdom of her words. He honestly feels the same way about his own life-as much as he missed his parents, he knew that he might have ended up completely different if they'd been around and he hadn't had to spend so much of his time taking care of Hiro, and he wouldn't have traded any of that for the world. His brain still stuck on this idea, it takes a moment to register her question, and then another to actually process it enough to form a coherent answer. "Oh, um, it's just a little coffee shop run by one of the campus ministries called 'Holy Grounds'." He snorts slightly at the pun, and then hurries to reassure her, "Don't worry, it's not as campy as it sounds. They actually make a pretty mean latte, and I've been going there since I was like five and my parents would bring me with them over here to the university while they were working."

"Aww, how sweet!" she giggles before adding, "It sounds wonderful!"

"Great!" Tadashi feels relieved that she's okay with the choice of venues, and together they make the rest of the walk in companionable silence. Once inside, he leads her up to the counter where a cheerful looking woman greets them.

"Well, hello there Tadashi!" she says, the pair of glasses on her nose seeming almost too big for her tiny frame and wispy strands of brown hair floating away from her bun, but still managing to project a general air of warmth and caring as she leans over the counter to squeeze the boy in a hug. "It's been so long since I've last seen you! How are you?"

"I'm doing fine, Miss June," Tadashi replies, knowing how ridiculous the two of them must look but hugging her back anyway.

"I'm so glad to hear that." The woman nods approvingly and then turns her attention to Honey Lemon. "And who's this? I don't believe I've seen you in here before, my dear!"

"Oh, u-um hi." Honey gives a small wave. "I'm Aiko ... But uh, my friends call me HoneyLemon." She looks the cheerful lady up and down. She was absolutely adorable! She definitely made the entire place more happy and cheerful, just what Honey liked to see in people.

"Well, it's so nice to meet you Honey Lemon," the woman says, giving her a wink. "Everyone around here calls me Miss June. I'll take it you're a friend of Dashi's?"

Tadashi instantly turns red at the use of the old nickname his family sometimes used for him, but he has to suffer in silence since there's no way he'd ever tell off someone as sweet as the Miss June, no matter how embarrassed she made him feel.

"Oh, yes!" Honey answered, not even noticing Tadshi's embarrassment. "Actually, he invited me to come here today and I think it will be a good chance for us to get to know each other a little better!"

Tadashi instantly perks up at that. She actually wants to get to know him better too? YES! Inside he does a tiny victory fist pump, but he forces himself to try to keep a cool, calm, collected exterior. Miss June, having known him for as long as she has, can see right through that, but all she does is give him an amused smile before turning back to Honey.

"Well dear, what would you like today?" she asks, allowing Tadashi a chance to recollect himself.

"Hm ... I'm not sure ..." Honey Lemon takes a quick look at the items she could get here, before answering, "Um, I think I'll just take a latte, please."

"Absolutely," Miss June replies with a wink. "And for you, Tadashi?"

"I'll have the same," he answers, giving her a grateful smile for not having used the nickname again.

"All right, be back in just a moment with your drinks," Miss June tells them, whisking away back into the kitchen. True to her word, only minutes later she returns with two styrofoam cups filled with the most amazing smelling lattes ever to grace the SFIT campus. "Now you two head on out to the porch out back," she says, playfully shooing them along. "It's too pretty a day to stay inside, and I'm sure you two could use the privacy."

"Oh, thank you!" Honey couldn't believe how friendly this person was! "Let's go, Tadashi!" she says.

"All right," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin. Waving his thanks to Miss June, he follows Honey out onto the back porch, which is comfortably furnished with some faded willow furniture, a porch swing, and a beautiful view of a small garden.

"You know, there's actually a legend behind this place," Tadashi says after a few minutes of companionable silence. He straightens up from where he'd been leaning on the porch banister and points to a little plaque by the door. It's old and faded with time, but it still clearly reads:

 _May all who bide here, whether friend or foe,_

 _Find harmony between them before they go._

"Basically it just means that most people who come here end up coming away much closer than when they'd arrived," he explains, feeling his ears turning slightly red and not able to meet her gaze, but continuing on anyway. "Even people who seemed like they hated each other end up leaving with peace between them. It's almost like there's magic here or something, y'know?" He dares to meet her eyes before continuing, "And...I know we haven't known each other for that long, but I'd like to get a chance to become really good friends." He hurries to add, "Only if you want to, of course!"

Honey giggles. Gosh, _Tadashi sounds so flustered!_ She thought to herself. It was kind of endearing.

"What do you mean?" she asks out loud. "Of course I want to become good friends with you, Tadashi! I don't see why anyone wouldn't want that! I mean, from what I can tell, you're a really sweet guy!"

Tadashi feels an intense blush crossing his face, and he's about to stammer out some sort of response when suddenly the wind picks up sharply. Usually he wouldn't have paid it much attention, but it's so intense that it whips around the two of them like a hurricane. Tadashi instinctively closes his eyes and put up his arms to shield his face against the gale and any flying debris. As it is, he can feel long hair whipping his face, assumedly Honey's, and, oddly enough, he can also feel something fluttering around his legs. Before he even has time to consider this, the wind disappears as suddenly as it had come. Blinking slightly, Tadashi lowers his arms. "Hey, are you oka-" he starts to ask Honey, turning to make sure that she's okay, but his question is cut off by an involuntary gasp. What on Earth? He stares at her in disbelief. Something had just gone very, very wrong.

"Um, yeah I'm-" Honey is caught off guard by the sound of her voice. It was ... Deeper. No, that can't be right. "I'm fine." She finishes, but her voice still sounds deeper than what it was originally. Before her brain even registers anything more, she looks at Tadashi ... And she can feel her jaw drop. Standing in front of her was a girl. Was that- no, it couldn't be! It was impossible!

"T-Tadashi?" Honey finally asks the girl. After a few moments of silence, her brain processing all that has happened, she looks down at herself. She wasn't wearing her original outfit anymore- she was wearing a pale yellow pair of skinny jeans and a, she had to admit, very snazzy bright yellow button up. Everything about her had changed. In fact, her head somehow felt lighter. She runs her hand through her ... Hair? No, no no no no no! Her hair is extremely short! Then, not knowing what else to do, she pulls out a small mirror that she happened to keep with her at all times. She opened it, and what she saw was frightening. The reflection that staired back at her was that of a guy! "I-I'M A GUY!" she shrieks, not knowing what else to say. "And-and you're a girl!"

Tadashi, who had mainly been paying attention to the crazy transformation that Honey Lemon had apparently just gone through, hadn't even noticed what had happened to himself. Looking down, though, he realized that something very, very, strange and very, very wrong had happened to him. His whole frame was a lot smaller and his hair had apparently grown by a good foot. Furthermore, his clothes had changed-he was still wearing an olive green blazer and a white t shirt, but both were much more tailored to fit his new form. Even worse, his brown slacks had been changed to a skirt that rested just above his knees. "What-what the heck?!" he finally manages to get out, feeling both terrified and extremely uncomfortable. He cringes slightly at the sound of his own voice, which is now several octaves higher, even more so than it usually went when he was freaked out. Finally he manages to pull himself together enough to meet Honey's worried eyes with his own and he squeaks out, "We've-we've been genderbent!"

"W-what?!" Honey exclaims. "How in the world?!"

"I don't know!" Tadashi looks appropriately disturbed by the sudden change of events. "I didn't even know that this was possible in our universe!"

"Well, how do we fix it?!"

"I don't know!" Tadashi replies, running his fingers through his hair in a panicked way. And then he squeaks as another horrible thought hits him, "Oh my gosh, what's everyone going to think when they see us like this?!"

"I-I don't know!" Honey once again looks down at her new self. "What CAN they think?"

"Oh gosh, we're in so much trouble..." Tadashi sighs as he runs his hands over his face. One solid thought finally comes to him. "I don't think we can go back to the lab until we've got this fixed," he tells Honey.

Honey raises an eyebrow. "Well, where do you suppose we go?"

"I don't know, but we need to go somewhere where we can try to figure this out without having people freaking out and complicating matters," Tadashi replies, trying to think logically but not doing so well considering he was on the verge of a total panic attack.

"Um ... Well, let's try to think this through," Honey says in the most calming voice she can manage given the circumstances. "Where would be the best place to go?"

Tadashi considers this. "Um... maybe some public place where we can sort of be hidden in plain sight and can easily hide if we happen to see anyone we know?" he suggests weakly.

"Um ... Alright."

Tadashi sighs slightly. "Now if only I weren't a total introvert who spent all my time alone in either my room or the lab, I just might know where to find one of those places. Do you have any ideas?"

"Um ... No, I mean, the only place that I could think of is my apartment." Her face reddens and she speeds up her words, quickly continuing, "But I don't think you'd want to come over because I REALLY need to clean it up ..."

"Believe me, I completely understand," Tadashi reassures her with a half-smile, not wanting to add any discomfort to the situation. "And I'm pretty much in the same boat- my aunt doesn't want me having visitors in the house while she's gone." His eyes go slightly wide as the mention of his aunt gives him an idea. "Wait a minute-how about the mall? I doubt that we'd run into anyone we knew there, and even if we did there's plenty of places to hide, and we could probably find someplace quiet to sit and figure this out."

Honey's eyes widen at the words. "The mall?!" she practically squeals. That was a bad idea, considering the fact that she's currently a guy and she probably looked ridiculous, but she didn't care. She absolutely loved the mall! "Yes! That would be perfect!" she eagerly agrees. "I know every store in there like the back of my hand! I go shopping there all of the time!" She looks down at herself and adds, "I could probably get some really cute outfits too while we're there—you know, since I probably need some guy clothes now…"

Tadashi smiles slight-he always loved it when she got excited like this, it was always so adorable. But then the last statement registers in his brain and he freezes. He hadn't even considered this possibility, but now he realizes that Honey has a good point. "Esch... I'm guessing it might not hurt me to do the same," he admits, grimacing slightly as he looks down at his current outfit and realizes that probably nothing in his wardrobe is going to fit him at this point.

Honey had finally managed to calm herself down, until Tadashi mentioned he might get some new outfits, too. That sends her into another spasm of happiness. "Oh my gosh! I could totally help you pick out clothes!" she cries.

"That-that would be great," Tadashi answers, forcing a bright smile onto his face. Honestly, he could not think of anything more embarrassing than going shopping for female clothes with the girl that he had a crush on, but hey, if it made her happy, he'd go with it.

"Eee! Alright let's go!" Honey grabs Tadashi's hand, ready to drag him to the mall, but almost immediately lets go. "Sorry ... That was a bit rude," she apologizes.

"N-no, it's fine," Tadashi tells her with a slight grin as he tries to fight down a seriously excited "squee" of his own. She had actually just held his hand! Maybe not purposefully, but it was still something. Shaking off the jittery feeling and blushing slightly, he tells her, "L-lead the way!"

"Oh, really?" Honey smiles, happy to see that her friend is almost as excited as she is. "Well let's go!" This time she grabs Tadashi's hand and doesn't let go. Now that she knows he doesn't feel awkward, neither does she. She soon leads him out of the café and towards the mall. "I'm so excited!" she tells him eagerly as they start walking down the street.

"Y-yeah, m-me too," Tadashi agrees, knowing that his face is completely red but unable to keep himself from grinning like an idiot. _Oh my gosh, she's holding my hand! She's holding my hand! And she's not letting go! Squee!_

Wait, had he just said "squee"? _Tadashi, get ahold of yourself!_ he silently reprimands himself. _It's bad enough that you're stuck as a girl-don't you dare start thinking like one!_ Still, he can't help but feel like he's glowing all the way to the mall.

When the duo finally reach the mall Honey is practically about to jump out of her clothes she's so excited ... That probably wouldn't be the best idea, though. So, instead of making a fool out of herself, she turns to Tadashi. "Alright! What store should we visit first?"

"Um, you tell me, you're the clothing expert here," he responds with a nervous grin.

"Oh alright! I just didn't know if you had a preference." She quickly scans around. "Um ... Maybe we should go into JC Penney's first ..."

"Sounds like a plan," Tadashi agrees, feeling somewhat relieved. At least she was naming a store that he was familiar with, and it had the plus side of having both men and women's clothes.

"Alright!" Honey exclaims with a small jump as she pulls her new shopping buddy into the department store.

Tadashi allows himself to be pulled along, part dreading this, part oddly fascinated with the idea of getting to see what it's going to be like actually going shopping while on the opposite side of the gender pool in a department store. "U-um, so do you want to find clothes for you first?" he suggest weakly, wanting to prolong the awkwardness for as long as possible and desperately hoping that maybe somehow he'll get switched back before he has to go through it. It was a long shot, but he could only hope.

"I would ..." Honey begins. "But, I think we should shop for you first! I've NEVER been able to do this for anyone before."

"O-okay," Tadashi agrees nervously, resigning himself to the fact that he's going to be seriously embarrassed one way or another this afternoon and he'd better get it over with. And hey, on the bright side it seemed to be making Honey happy, and he'd do almost anything to make sure that she was able to keep smiling (especially since they were in a situation which could easily become very awkward or even depressing if not handled properly.) "W-where do we start?" he asks, trying to keep a fairly cheerful smile onto his face and hoping that it didn't look as forced as it felt.

Honey puts a finger to her chin. "Well, first we need to figure out what your style is," she explains as she looks Tadashi up and down. "What would you say your style is?"

"Um...usually I just wear slacks, a t-shirt, and a sweater or blazer of some sort," Tadashi replies, feeling completely out of his depth. "Pretty much whatever's comfortable."

"Hmm ... Ok. Now what about colors? Do you prefer anything specific?" Honey asks.

"Um..." Tadashi considers this. "I guess I've always been partial to green and brown?"

"Oh! Alright! I think I have just enough to work with Stay right there, I'll be right back," she says before running off.

"Okay, great!" Tadashi tries to sound cheerful, but, honestly, being left standing in the middle of a store while his crush was off trying to find gender appropriate clothing for him wasn't the most reassuring thing in the world.

Honey goes through the clothes racks like a hurricane. She, with her trained eye for fashion, is quickly able to pick out a couple of outfits that fit the comfortable style her friend enjoys. It's a little trickier to find the specific colors, or at least things close, but she eventually comes running back to Tadashi with two outfits she believes are perfect for him. One of the outfits is a very simple green button up shirt with some adorable skinny jeans to go along with it. The other outfit, Honey Lemon's personal favorite, was a cute, loose, gray sweater with an owl on the front. This shirt had a pair of light brown leggings under it. "Alright, there's not much here ... These outfits are pretty simple." She frowns for a moment but then quickly smiles again and adds, "But you'll still look cute!"

"O-okay," Tadashi says, trying not to blush bright red when she makes the "cute" comment. Oh gosh, he was acting like a teenage girl with a crush? Well, then again, technically he sort of was… That could possibly explained a lot of things about why he was feeling so emotional. Now, if only that could explain the random feeling in his midsection...

Shaking his head to clear away the thoughts about the phantom pains and focus on the present, he somewhat awkwardly accepts the clothes and asks, "Um... so, do you want me to try them on now?"

She nods swiftly. "Of course, silly! When else?"

"A-all right," he agrees, scanning the store for the nearest dressing room. Frankly, he's slightly terrified at the prospect of actually having to go into the ladies' dressing room, but it doesn't seem like he has much of a choice.

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you!"

"Okay..." Gulping convulsively, Tadashi makes his way into the dressing room. He ducks his head, trying not to see anything around him and hurrying into the nearest open stall. Quickly he shuts and locks the door behind him, letting out a slight sigh of relief that he'd made it this far. Then he stiffens slightly as he considers the prospect of actually having to figure out how to put on women's clothing and, even worse, having to actually deal with his new form for the first time. After a moment's internal struggle, he finally just decides to get it over with and, squeezing his eyes shut, he quickly does his best to get dressed by using his other senses. To be honest, the button up shirt was fine, as was the sweater. But both the jeans and the leggings were way, waaaaaay too tight for his taste. Seriously, how did girls manage to breathe in these? Knowing that Honey would want to see him in at least one of the outfits, he elects to go with the sweater and leggings combination since that was slightly more comfortable. On his way back out into the main part of the store to find Honey, he felt extremely conspicuous (even though in reality no one was really paying any attention to him.) Just as he was preparing to exit the door, he found his attention diverted by two teenage girls who were standing in front of a mirror and having a rather animated discussion.

"Do you really think this dress will get Daniel's attention?" the one girl, who was wearing a rather skimpy dress and looking rather uncomfortable in it, asks her companion, turning to get a better view of herself in the mirror.

"Believe me, this will totally work!" the other girl quickly reassures her. "Wear this to the dance and there's no way that he won't finally ask you out."

"I don't know... I just-something just doesn't feel right about this," the first girl sighs.

"Jasmine, we've talked about this!" the second girl answers, huffing slightly. "Do you want to be forever alone?"

"No," the first girl admits, her lip trembling slightly.

"Good. Then we're getting the dress. Trust me, everything's going to work out great."

Normally Tadashi didn't like to get involved in the affairs of strangers-he honestly felt that it was somewhat rude and he knew he wouldn't like other people to do the same thing to him. But he couldn't just stand by and let this poor girl make a decision which he knew could lead to some fairly devastating consequences. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he says, walking over and shaking his head. "This is totally not the way to go!"

"Uh, excuse me, but this is a private conversation?" The girl who'd been pressuring the other one into getting the dress gives him a derisive look. He ignores it, though, instead going over to the girl who was actually wearing the garment in question.

"I think I heard your name's Jasmine, is that right?" he asks gently.

"Y-yes," the girl replies, seeming nervous.

"That's beautiful," Tadashi says, giving her what he hopes constitutes an older sisterly type smile. "It's a perfect fit for a beautiful young girl."

"O-oh, I-I'm really not that pretty..." she stammers, her cheeks going even redder than they already were.

"Yes, you are," Tadashi replies firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I don't know exactly who's been lying to you, but sweetheart, you honestly don't need to wear something like that to get a guy's attention. You've got your own natural beauty, and anyone who's worth your time will be able to see that without your having to expose yourself. Honestly, most decent guys actually prefer girls to be dressed modestly so that they're not having to struggle to keep their thoughts pure."

"R-really?" Jasmine looks up at him with big, hopeful eyes. "H-how do you know that?"

"Uh..." Tadashi tries to think of a good explanation-he can't exactly say that he knows from personal experience because he is a guy since he's currently genderbent and it would probably only freak her out if she knew. So he quickly answers, "I-I have a brother and a lot of my friends are guys. But, that aside, you should never try to change something about yourself just to get someone's attention. Believe me, when the right one comes along, they'll like you for exactly who you are, not some fake person that you're trying to be. And don't let anyone-and I mean _anyone_ -" he casts a scathing glance over at the girl's companion, "tell you otherwise. Okay?"

"O-okay!" Jasmine nods her head, looking like she was close to tears but also having a huge smile on her face.

"Good." Tadashi returns her smile with one of his own. Then, suddenly feeling awkwardly unsure of what to do after giving her that mini peptalk and realizing that Honey was still waiting for him, he quickly nods his head goodbye and then hurries out into the main store where he almost smacks right into his own shopping companion.

"Whoa, Dashi." Honey giggles at the use of her friend's silly nickname. "Watch out, that was almost bad. What are you rushing away from?"

"Oh, I just-I realized that I'd been in there for a while trying to figure out how to get these clothes to work, and I didn't want you to start worrying," Tadashi replies, blushing slightly. It's half the truth, anyway. Beginning to feel the uncomfortableness of his current garments again, he tugs at the bottom of the leggings to see if that would loosen them at all, but unfortunately they continued to hold their vice-like grip on his calves.

Honey giggles. "Oh, I take those leggings are straying too far from the comfortable style you enjoy?" She doesn't even wait for Tadashi to answer. "Hold on I'll go find something a bit better," she tells him and then takes off yet again.

Tadashi sighs with relief, glad that she isn't offended by the fact that he wasn't more enthusiastic about her first choices. Still, he can't help but feel slightly awkward as he stands there in the middle of the store waiting for her to return. He feels even more awkward, though, a few minutes later when she returns with something else for him to try on. "Is that-a skirt?!" he cries in disbelief.

Honey looks down at the item of clothing she brought Tadashi. "Well, yeah. I mean, skirts are pretty comfortable."

Tadashi's about to protest when he realizes that he'd already been wearing a skirt for the past hour or so already and, as weird as it was to admit, he realizes that it actually been fairly comfortable. "Okay..." he finally agrees after a moment's internal struggle, giving up the fight for dignity in favor of actually being able to feel like he could breathe in his clothing. "Just...just don't laugh, okay?"

"I wouldn't dream of it Tadashi." Honey says with a serious look on her face.

"Okay then..." Tadashi heads back into the dressing room to try the garment on. To his great surprise, he finds it extremely comfortable. He still feels a little silly when he walks back out to show it to Honey, but at least he can breathe in it.

"You. Look. ADORABLEEEEE!" Honey proclaims as she sees her friend walk out with the skirt on. "I'm glad you didn't like those skinny jeans, that skirt fits your style much better!"

"Y-you think so?" Tadashi asks, his cheeks turning bright red and not quite sure how to take the praise. It was supposed to be a compliment, he knew, but technically he was still a guy, so was it really a good thing that apparently he could wear a skirt well?

"Yes!" Honey exclaims happily.

Tadashi's about to respond when suddenly two girls passing by start giggling and he can hear one of them saying to the other, "Aw, lucky gal! Her boyfriend's actually taking her out shopping!"

"I wish mine would do that," the other one agrees, shooting Tadashi a slightly envious look.

"Wait, she's not-I mean he's not..." Tadashi starts to protest, but by then the girls are out of hearing range. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry..." he apologizes as he turns back to Honey, his face going bright red. "I didn't even realize that people would think that you-that is, that we..."

"Oh, it's fine," Honey Lemon giggles. "Silly mistake-I'm honestly not surprised they made it. Most people who see a guy and a girl out shopping together would assume that they were a couple. But it doesn't mean anything-we both know that we're just really good friends!"

"R-right…" Tadashi can't quite meet her eyes, fearing that she'd see from the expression how deep her words had cut. In trying to aver his gaze, he manages to catch sight of a clock on the wall, and he feels vaguely panicked. "Oh my gosh, I hadn't realized how late it was!" he cries. "Hiro's going to be getting home from school any time now, and I still need to get back to the university to pick up my moped before heading home!"

"Hiro?" Honey Lemon gives the other college student a curious look, and then her eyes light up with understanding. "Oh, your little brother, right?"

"Yeah," Tadashi agrees. "And I promised him that I'd be home by the time he got there!"

"Well then, we're going to make sure that you keep that promise!" Honey Lemon says firmly before giving him a gentle shove towards the door. "Get going!"

"Thank you for understanding…" Tadashi gives her a grateful smile before looking down and groaning slightly. "Only-shoot, I'm still dressed in these clothes, and I haven't paid for them…"

"Oh, I can fix that!" Honey Lemon brushes aside his concerns with a wave of her hand. Before Tadashi can ask what she's doing, the blond pulls a pair of nail scissors out of her purse and starts clipping price tags. "There we go!" she says in satisfaction. "I'll just bring these to the register and pay for them with whatever clothes I end up getting!"

"Are-are you sure?" Tadashi asks uncertainly.

"Oh, trust me, people do this all of the time!" Honey Lemon answers brightly.

"No, I mean-I feel guilty for leaving you to pay!"

"Oh, if that's all, don't worry about it! I'm more than happy to do it-consider a 'thank you' for actually coming shopping with me!"

"You're… you're welcome…" Tadashi blushes slightly. "I... I actually kind of had fun… Maybe we can make this a more regular thing-once we get back to normal, I mean! As interesting as shopping for female clothes is…"

"I get it!" Honey Lemon laughs, before giving him another gentle shove. "Now go! You don't want your little brother to be worried!"

"He'll be worried plenty enough when he sees me as a girl…" Tadashi jokes wryly before doing as directed. As he pushes the door open, though, he turns back and calls, "Thank you again! You're a life saver!"

"Not a problem!" Honey Lemon calls back happily, waving as she watches the young man go. Wow, Tadashi really was a great friend! And now… She turns back to into the store and starts heading for the men's department. She has some shopping of her own to do!


	8. Chapter 8

Callaghan was walking down a corridor at the university when he nearly bumped into a young woman who was hurrying past. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, miss!" he apologizes to her. Then, as he looks up to see who he had run into, he feels a slight spark of alarm. For some reason, the girl looked extremely familiar—almost exactly the same as a certain male student of his. Before he can even think this through thoroughly, he finds himself saying, "Wait...Tadashi?!"

Tadashi freezes as soon as he hears the professor's voice. Something had told him that he wasn't supposed to have gone back to his office to get his bag after spending the afternoon trying to figure things out with Honey Lemon, but he'd needed his keys so he could get home before Hiro. So no. No! Nonononnono! This could _not_ be happening! This day had already been horrible enough. The last thing he needs is for the man he respects most in the world to see him as a _girl_. So, ducking his head, he does one of the things he hates most in the world-he lies. "No," he answers, for once glad that his voice had changed and was higher pitched than usual and thus hopefully harder to identify. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

"Oh, I see," Callaghan says, feeling slightly embarrassed for having even considered the possibility that this woman was his young protégé. He, of all people, should know that it was impossible for people to just randomly switch genders. Still, he couldn't help but notice that the hat on her head was identical to the one his student always wore, and he'd only ever seen Tadashi wearing one like that. "I'm sorry for the confusion," the professor tells the girl slowly, hoping to clear things up. "It's just that the hat you're wearing is exactly the same as one of my students wears…"

"Oh, the hat?" Tadashi can't help but panic slightly, breaking out into a cold sweat as he was forced to try to think up an explanation. "Um, it was a gift from my parents... My dad, he, uh, used to be a student here."

"Ah, interesting." Well, that would explain some things. Still, Callaghan noticed that the young lady seemed to be extremely nervous for some reason, as if she was hiding something. Things just weren't quite adding up. "What's your name, miss?"

 _Shoot!_ Tadashi quickly tries to come up with an alternate name and uses the first thing that comes to mind, "Tomoko. Tomoko Takachiho."

"Well, nice to meet you Tomoko," Callaghan says politely. While he still had some nagging suspicions, perhaps this young lady was just another student who bore some resemblances to Tadashi. "I haven't seen you here before," he adds, wanting to see if he could pin down her reason for being in the lab. "Are you new to the university?"

"Um, yeah, I'm actually just visiting," Tadashi agrees quickly. "I-I actually need to get going, so if it's all right with you-"

"Well, you've come to a great place," Callaghan tells her, deciding to finally let his misgivings go. She was just a visitor, and all of the similarities were just coincidences. Not wanting to detain her when she had places to be, he continues, "It was very nice meeting you. I hope to see you in class someday soon."

"L-likewise," Tadashi agrees, continuing to keep his head down as he hurries off. Ducking behind a column near the exit, he waits until he's fairly sure that Professor Callaghan should have moved on and pulls out his office keys. Time to get that bag and then get out of there. Taking a deep breath, he sprints across the lab, trying to stay hidden behind other students until he reaches his office door. Once there, he inserts the key into the lock, only to let out a low groan when the doorknob decides to be finicky and stick. "Oh, c'mon, I don't have time for this!" Tadashi cries quietly, jiggling the handle again. "Come on, work, please work!"

Callaghan had just walked around the corner to check on the progress of another of his students when he heard a low groan. Instantly he recognizes the voice as that of Tomoko's—she was seemingly getting annoyed with something. Hoping to offer assistance with whatever difficulties she might be having, he heads back to check on her, only to find her trying to gain entrance to an office. And not just any office—it was Tadashi's.

"Oh, thank Heavens!" Tadashi cries with relief as he finally gets the door open. He hurries inside to grab his bag, glad to have the deed done and over with. Now if only he can get back out of here without getting caught...

As soon as Callaghan saw the young woman get the door open and go inside, his suspicions about her being Tadashi instantly flared back up. He waits until she comes back out, holding Tadashi's bag, before stepping out of the shadows to confront her. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you to end up in Tadashi's office-let alone to have the key to it," he says in a low voice. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

" _S-sensei_!" Tadashi's eyes go wide as he finds himself face to face with his professor, and then instantly regrets saying anything. He was pretty much the only person in the whole lab who called Callaghan by the Japanese name for "teacher". The jig was totally up.

For Callaghan, there was no doubt about it now. Tadashi Hamada was the only one of his students to ever call him "sensei". Putting a firm but gentle hand on the young woman's shoulder, he says gravely "Tadashi? What happened?"

"Oh gosh... I seriously didn't want you to have to see me like this," the younger man mutters, running his fingers nervously through his hair (something which he wasn't sure was less or more helpful now that it was a good foot and a half longer) and wondering just how much trouble he was in for lying to his professor, although willing to take whatever punishment came his way since it had been his own choice.

"Tadashi, you're not in trouble," Callaghan answers, guessing from his student's expression what sorts of thoughts were going through his head. "To be honest, I just didn't think this was possible… How on Earth did you manage it?"

"I didn't know that it was possible either," Tadashi responds, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders in slight defeat. Seeing the confused look on his professor's face, he continues, "This definitely wasn't something I did on purpose. I was just out getting coffee with Honey Lemon when suddenly we go hit by this wind and the next thing we knew-we were genderswapped!" Wincing slightly, he adds hurriedly, "I know it sounds insane, but I swear, it's the truth!"

"It…It is a bit hard to wrap my head around," Callaghan admits. "But… I trust you, Tadashi, and I can see that you're telling the truth. My next question would be what caused such a strange phenomenon-I've never heard of anything which could cause instantaneous switching of genders!"

"Yeah, that's what makes it so confusing," Tadashi agrees. "It's like it randomly hit just a couple of people instead of large numbers, and no one knows why it's happening!"

"Well, confusing or no, there has to be a way to reverse this," Callaghan asserts. Albeit, he had no clue as to what that way might be, but he wasn't about to admit that and make Tadashi feel even worse than he already was.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to do," Tadashi admits, shaking his head in slight frustration. "And the worst thing is, I'm supposed to be heading home in at most half an hour to meet Hiro, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to approach him on this."

"That is a right predicament," Callaghan admits. "But, then again, this could be a blessing in disguise—you've told me how brilliant your brother is. Perhaps he might know of some way to resolve this."

"Yeah, I'm hoping he'll have some ideas-provided that I can keep him from freaking out first," Tadashi replies with a slight sigh, and then cringes slightly as another one of the stomach cramps he'd been experiencing all afternoon hits him.

"I'm sure that if anyone can figure this out, it's the pair of you," Callaghan answers encouragingly, only to have his attention distracted from the problem at hand when he notices Tadashi making a face as if he were in pain. "Are you all right?" he asks, feeling deeply concerned.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Tadashi replies, feeling somewhat embarrassed for letting his slight pain show. "Just a little bit of stomach upset, that's all. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Well, I hope it settles," Callaghan answers, all of his fatherly instincts kicking in. "You know that I can't help but worry about you—I feel something of an obligation to keep an eye on you for your father's sake."

"I'm sure I'll be okay," Tadashi reassures him, not wanting his professor to be more worried about him than he already is but feeling grateful that the man cared about him so much.

"Of course," Callaghan says with a firm nod, trying to sound less concerned than he felt. "You're a strong lad. A simple stomachache doesn't stop you."

"Right," Tadashi agrees, trying not to let it show as he gets hit by yet another wave of nausea. Gosh sakes, he really hoped that this whole genderbend thing wasn't somehow making him sick (although that would make some sense considering the drastic physical changes he'd undergone.)

An odd and somewhat horrifying thought makes its way into Callaghan's mind. He had seen many young women and even his own daughter getting suddenly nauseous around certain times of the month. Could it be that Tadashi…? No, he wouldn't even go there! It was too horrifying of a thought to even consider. Still, he finds himself saying aloud, "I hope this isn't a side effect of the genderbend…"

"Same here," Tadashi agrees with a slight smile, albeit his train of thought miles away from Callaghan's own.

The professor was finding it hard to stay positive when he had no idea as to how to fix the problem, but after a few minute of awkward silence, he says again, "I wish I knew how to fix this problem for you, but I'm honestly at a loss right now."

"Yeah, me too," Tadashi admits with a tiny sigh. Then he checks the clock on the wall and cries, "Oh shoot, I need to get going! Hiro's going to be home any time now, and I want to get there before he does!"

"Of course," Callaghan says, feeling somewhat relieved that the rather uncomfortable encounter was coming to an end. "You take care of yourself and get home safely," he continues, trying to regain some sense of reassurance so that he didn't have to send his pupil away on such a low note. "I hope that Hiro takes the news of about the genderbend well, and even if he doesn't, keep your chin up—I'm sure everything will work out all right in the end."

" _Arigatou sensei_ ," Tadashi responds, bowing slightly and giving the teacher as confident a smile as he can muster. He starts to leave, but then he suddenly turns back and puts his arms around the professor. He needs some sort of physical reassurance before heading off into only Heaven knew what. This time around, he didn't even hesitate in whispering, "Thank you...Dad."

Callaghan can't help but smile as the boy hugs him. He couldn't help it—Tadashi was like a son to him, and, like any father, he always felt honored whenever one of his children showed an outward form of affection towards him. If nothing else, he was just glad he could be there for the young man. "You're welcome," he finally says softly. "And I'll be right here if you ever need me."

Tadashi can't help but hold the hug out for a moment longer, feeling the need to absorb as much strength and encouragement in the moment as possible. Then he finally forces himself to let go and starts heading for the door. "Wish me luck," he says with a nervous smile, turning back briefly to catch one last glimpse of his mentor before going out into the main lab.

How Callaghan wished that he never had to let Tadashi go—that he could keep him safe and protect him here. Still, he knew that he had to trust that his surrogate son would be able to work out things on his own, as a man (or woman, at the moment.) But as the professor walks out into the main lab to catch a last glimpse of his student, he can't help but worry for him.

Outside Ito Ishioka, Tadashi takes a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves and draw residual strength from that last hug. Then, hopping onto Bae and putting the keys into the ignition, he heads off towards home.


	9. Chapter 9

_Slam!_ Tadashi cringes slightly as he the door to the kitchen closes hard behind him, but he decides to let it go. He has more important things to worry about than loud noises being made by doors. "Hiro?" he calls nervously, and then flinches at the high-pitched sound of his own voice. Even though he'd been stuck in female form since late morning, that didn't mean that he was used to it yet. When he doesn't get a response, he carefully exits the kitchen and heads out into the hall. "Hiro?" he tries again. No answer. He breathes a slight sigh of relief. At least he'd beat Hiro home-despite how crazy his whole world had become, he'd wanted to keep his promise to his little brother that he would be there when he got back from school. Still, as he wanders up the stairs and into the living room where he sinks down onto the couch, he puts his head in his hands and lets out a small groan, wondering how he's supposed to explain all of this to Hiro. Honestly, he doesn't even understand it himself-he had no idea what had caused his and Honey Lemon's transformations (well, he had a vague suspicion, but honestly it seemed pretty far-fetched. The porch behind the old coffee house where his parents had originally met wasn't actually magical-was it?) It certainly didn't help matters any that he'd been experiencing extreme abdominal pain all that afternoon. He hadn't said anything to Honey about it, but it was making him feel seriously nauseous and he hoped that this wasn't some horrible side effect of the gender swap. Honestly, genderbends were fine and usually pretty hilarious when they happened in shows or on the internet, but now he realized that they were absolute heck when they actually happened to you. Leaning his head back and trying to fight off the alternating urges to throw up or consume vast amounts of chocolate, he debates whether he could get away with cutting his hair short and just trying to speak in a lower register to try to keep Hiro from finding out what had happened. If nothing else, he really should get out of these clothes that Honey Lemon had coerced him to get at the mall. Sure, they actually fit him as opposed to the rest of the rest of his wardrobe at the moment, but at least it would be better to be slightly uncomfortable than for Hiro to find him in a skirt (seriously, even that slacks that he'd been wearing when he'd gotten swapped had gotten turned into a skirt-was the universe just seriously conspiring against him and trying to make him completely and utterly embarrassed?) Before he could make a move to go change, however, he suddenly hears the front door slam and the familiar sound of footsteps coming pattering up the stairs. "Shoot!" he thinks, frozen to the spot. It's too late to do anything now. He's just going to have to roll with whatever happens next, and he sends up a fervent prayer that things won't turn out as bad as he's imagining them.

"Tadashi, I'm home! Let the inventing begin!" Hiro shouted as he walked through the door, tossing his backpack to the ground.

"Tadashi, where are you?" he calls again when he doesn't get an immediate response. He knew that his brother was home—he'd seen his moped outside. The younger Hamada wandered into the living room, searching for his surprisingly absent niisan, and almost instantly froze. Instead of Tadashi, he saw a terrified looking woman sitting on the sofa.

Hiro stared right back at the woman in alarm, unsure of what to do. In his startled state, his brain started picking out random details—for example, he noticed that Tadashi's things were near the woman and that she looked frighteningly similar to his niisan. Her hair and eyes were the same color as his brother's, and both had an extremely similar facial structure. Still, none of that though explained who she was, what she was doing in his house, or why she had Tadashi's things. Maybe she was a friend of his brother's? But why hadn't his niisan told him that he was bringing someone over? And besides, he had promised that the weekend would just be for the two of them, and he wouldn't have gone back on his promise. Feeling extremely confused and a little frightened, the younger Hamada finally manages to get out, "W-w-who are you?"

Tadashi hates seeing how freaked out his little brother is-partly because he just hates to see his little bro scared, partly because this means that there's going to be no chance for a gradual or slow transition. It's going to have to be flat out confession from point one, and he dreads it, but he honestly can't let Hiro just freak out for any longer. "H-Hiro?" he finally manages to get out, slowly rising to his feet but not approaching him for fear of scaring him any further. "I-it's me-Tadashi."

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Hiro exclaimed after an uncomfortable silence, forcing out a short laugh. "Tadashi is my brother... who is a guy. And you most decidedly are _not_." He slowly backed away from the woman, getting really freaked out. Finally his brain, which was desperately searching for a plausible explanation, latches onto a solid idea and he says in a low voice, "Look, I don't know if you and Tadashi set this up, but if this is some kind of sick prank, you can stop. It's not funny—like, at all."

"Hiro, does it look like I'm joking?" Tadashi shoots back, his face turning slightly red from exasperation. It's hard enough to be dealing with these random changes without his otouto making things difficult. He can't fully blame his little brother for not believing him-he'd probably do the same thing if the roles were reversed-but that doesn't make things any easier. Letting out a tiny sigh to calm himself down and pushing his bangs and, consequently, his hat back up his forehead, he asks quietly, "What would it take to prove to you that I really am your brother?"

Hiro frowned, studying the woman. Everything about her screamed Tadashi, but he knew better than to just trust her word. He needed proof. Something no one but his niisan would know but would never ever tell someone, no matter what. "Tell me something only Tadashi and I would know," he declared.

"Oh, gosh, where do I even begin on that question?" Tadashi replies, a relieved smile on his face as he thinks over just how many random facts he could name, but tries to narrow it down to a few. "Let's see... I know that ever since you were born you've been terrified of lightning and when you were little you'd come sleep in my bed whenever it was storming outside. I know that you are extremely ticklish behind your left ear. I know that last night you and I went out joyriding around SF in a hover cart, following putting rocket boots on Mochi. And I also recall you requesting gummy bears on your pancakes this morning."

Hiro let out a huge grin, relief flooding him. "Tadashi it is you!" he exclaimed, only to start laughing. "So you really are a _girl_! How- why- what did you do to cause this?" He nearly doubled over with mirth. "Should I start calling you 'sis' now?"

Tadashi's initial relief that Hiro believes him is almost instantly replaced by the slight horror of realizing that his brother is going to take complete and total advantage of this, and not in a good way. "I honestly have no idea what happened," he replies to Hiro's first question, trying to keep his voice calm and ignore his otouto's obvious amusement at his predicament. "One second I was just having coffee with Hon-" He stops himself short, not wanting to admit to the fact that he was actually out with a girl, so he corrects, "Er, with a friend-and then the next thing I know, I look like this!" He gestures to his current appearance. Then, realizing that he's going to have to be firm if he doesn't want to lose complete and total control of the situation, he throws in, "And don't you dare start calling me 'sis', or so help me, you are going to be cleaning out the attic all weekend, along with a few other unpleasant chores I can think of!"

An evil grin on his face, Hiro replied, "Of course, ma'am. But did I hear you start to say a name? Were you with a girl, by any chance?" He was almost positive that his niisan had a crush on someone, but he could never get it out of him who exactly it was. Even if he didn't know the person's identity just yet, he was going to enjoy his brother's predicament as much as he could. That's what Tadashi got for messing with their weekend of fun, even if it was unintentional.

Tadashi instantly feels his face go even redder. "S-she's just a friend from the lab," he mutters, trying not to let on just how freaked out Hiro has him. How had his brother even managed to catch that slip up when he'd been so oblivious to the whole "otousan" thing that morning? "Nothing's g-going on," he finally protests, "so don't over analyze this!" He cringes at the slight squeak in his voice, which certainly isn't helping his case any-seriously, this is worse than back when he was in puberty and his voice had been changing.

Hiro's smirk grew when he heard Tadashi's voice squeak, a clear sign that his brother was lying through his teeth. "Sure," the younger Hamada drawls, "I totally believe you." He swore that he was going to find out who this girl was and see what he could do to get the two of them together. As much as he loved teasing his niisan, Tadashi deserved to be happy. Of course the younger boy would still tease him mercilessly about it—they were brothers! It was their job to tease each other!

Before he could get on with this match-making attempt, however, first Hiro had to figure out how to change his brother back. He seriously doubted that this mystery girl would want to date his niisan while he was in a girl's body. Besides, at the end of the day Hiro really would much rather have a big brother than a big sister.

Tadashi can tell that Hiro knows that he's lying, but at least his little brother doesn't call him on the carpet on it. He can handle the sarcasm better than a straight-on confrontation. "I'm sorry that this is going to sort of mess up our weekend," he apologizes, suddenly being hit by a wave of guilt as he realizes the problems that this sudden genderswapping is going to cause.

Hiro wanted to be angry at him, but seeing the guilt on Tadashi's face about the whole thing made the younger Hamada stop. "It's ok," he assured. "You didn't mean for this to happen. We'll figure out a way to change you back! The Hamada's can fix anything right?" He raised a fist towards his brother, grinning.

"Right," Tadashi agrees with a relieved smile. It's awesome knowing that he's got a little brother who will always be there no matter what. As much as they tease each other, they're honestly so blessed to have each other. He raises his fist to meet his brother's in their signature fist bump, but then he suddenly has to clutch his stomach as yet another bout of pain hits him, this one worse than all the preceding ones.

"Tadashi?" Hiro exclaimed when his niisan doubled over, fear for his brother's well-being filling him. Was this a side effect of the transformation? "What's wrong?" he asked desperately, having no idea what to do. Should he call the hospital? Their aunt? Should he not do anything and wait see what happens?

"I'm fine," Tadashi lies, forcing a smile onto his face. "I just-I think I'm just a little worn out from all of this craziness. Help me back up to our room?"

"Ok," Hiro agreed grabbing his brother's arm and helping him get up the stairs and onto his bed. "Can I get anything to help you feel better?"

Tadashi starts to say "no", but then, suddenly thinking better of it, he answers with a small smile, "Um, could you get me some juice from the fridge?"

"Yea of course!" Hiro responded, desperately wanting to do something to help Tadashi feel better. He raced down the stairs and pulled open the fridge, grabbing the first juice box he could find and ran back upstairs. "Here you go," he said passing Tadashi the box.

"Oh, t-thanks!" The older Hamada tries to smile and pretend like he isn't too upset by the fact that his brother had shown back up so quickly. Honestly, the juice had just been a distraction. He'd actually been hoping for a few minutes alone because he could tell that something not good was going on with his body (beyond the fact that it was now the opposite gender). When he'd been in the living room, he'd felt something that he didn't even want to think about going on in an area he also didn't want to think about, so he'd been planning to get up and lock the door as soon as Hiro was gone so he could give himself a looking over (something which was obviously going to be extremely uncomfortable, but necessary.) Unfortunately, however, his body had gone further AWOL and seemingly pinned him to the bed for the duration and he hadn't gotten the opportunity. It looked like he was going to have to go the old fashioned way of getting privacy, so, after drinking a few sips of the juice to make it appear that's what he'd actually wanted, he started to get up off of the bed.

"Do you need help?" Hiro asked, oblivious to his brother's plight. As much as he wanted to mock and tease Tadashi for being stuck as a girl, he couldn't bring himself to do so while his niisan was in obvious pain. Though his brother tried to hide it, he could tell Tadashi was hurting, he just wished his niisan would talk to him rather than hide.

"Hiro..." Tadashi turns slightly red. "I'm going to the bathroom-I think I'll be okay."

The younger Hamada blushed slightly at that answer and muttered, "Sorry... I just-umm, ok, I'll leave you too it then..." He realized he was probably mother hening his brother a bit, but Tadashi screaming in pain earlier had him worried. What if something was going on because of the change? Hiro hated not knowing what he should do.

"Right." Tadashi tries to make his way as normally as he can across the bedroom, although it's hard to do so when there's something hot and sticky running down the inside of his leg. It's all he can do not to slam the bathroom door as soon as he gets inside and his hand slips a few times as he tries to lock it, he's so nervous. "Okay, deep breaths Tadashi," he says quietly, trying to mentally coach himself through this extremely uncomfortable situation. "Stop freaking out and get this over with. This is your body. There's nothing to be afraid of." But he was wrong. Oh was he wrong. As soon as he sat down on the lid of the closed toilet and pulled up the hem of his skirt, he knew that something was extremely wrong. It takes him a full moment to process what he's seeing, and then with trembling fingers he reaches down and touches the dark red substance on his leg. No. No, this couldn't be happening. He was... bleeding?!

Hiro jumped when he heard his brother shout and asked, "Everything ok?"

Tadashi isn't sure how to respond to that. At least for the moment, the pain in his midsection has relieved, but that only seems to be because there is a steady stream of blood leaving his body, and there's no sign of if stopping. Phrases from his mother's old medical books jump out of his memory like bad nightmares: Internal bleeding. Extensive blood loss. Hypovolemic Shock. If this doesn't stop soon, there's a good chance that he isn't going to make it through the night, or maybe even the next couple of hours. People always ask that question, "What would you do if you knew you only had one hour left to live?" Well, here he was faced with that decision and suddenly he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Gulping convulsively and pulling his skirt back down to hide the blood, he reaches over to unlock the door and says in a quavery voice, "H-Hiro? Could you come in here please?"

Hiro frowned and raced into the bathroom, gasping when he saw the blood on his brother's legs.

Tadashi tries to put a brave face on. He wishes that Hiro hadn't seen the blood, but since he did he's going to have to try to make this as least painful for both of them as possible. "Hiro," he says, putting a hand on his little brother's shoulder. "I-I think I'm dying."

"What? No!" The younger Hamada's brain absolutely refused to believe this statement, and he tried desperately to think back to his health classes for a non-fatal reason why his niisan would be bleeding. Then his eyes go wide as a horrifying thought hits him.

"Uhh... Dashi...Um, er... where is the blood coming from?" he asks, feeling his face burn at the extremely awkward question but he had to ask. If it was what Hiro was thinking, it was possible that Tadashi wasn't dying... Or, at least he hoped he wasn't.

The older Hamada feels his face flaming. Why would Hiro ask something like that? Not wanting to provide that rather uncomfortable answer, he brushes the question away. "That's not important," he says, shaking his head slightly and putting his other hand on his otouto's shoulder. He looks into his little brother in the eyes, a sad smile on his face as he decides that it's time to come clean about how he really feels about him. "I-I have something I need to tell you, in case I don't get another chance-"

"Tadashi, stop!" Hiro exclaimed. "You're a girl now and I think... well you may be on your period. Not dying." He turned bright red when he said this, but he'd rather tell his brother that he thought he was menstruating than for Tadashi to give an embarrassing speech only to find out he wasn't actually dying. As perturbing as the whole situation was, the younger Hamada fervently wished it was the monthly letting of blood instead of something fatal, partly because he did not want to have to take his niisan to the hospital and try and explain all this weirdness and partially because he did not want to lose his brother (or sister, as he was at the moment.)

Tadashi freezes. His... "Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot." The older Hamada puts his head in his hands. He couldn't believe that he'd been so freaked out that he'd completely forgotten about that possibility. "Hiro, I'm so sorry I just put you through this!" he apologizes. "I-I'm a horrible brother. I'm doing my friggin' robotics project on the medical field, and I couldn't remember that part of human anatomy?"

Hiro grinned and reassured him, "It's ok, I'd freak out too if I was suddenly bleeding for no apparent reason!" Still, the younger Hamada couldn't help but feel slightly worried by how emotional the older was getting. His niisan was normally so calm and collected… What was happening to him?

"You sure?" Tadashi asks, looking up at his little brother in relief and feeling tears beginning to prick his eyes.

"Yea," Hiro promised, wrapping his arms around his niisan. "You just need to relax, okay bro? And maybe put on a pad or something..."

Tadashi blushes again at the reference to the feminine product. "Um, y-yeah," he agrees, forcing himself to get up so he can deal with the problem at hand. "I'll-I'll be back in a minute, 'kay?"

"Ok," Hiro replied, not feeling so bad for laughing now that his brother had calmed down some. Maybe he actually could get away with some teasing...

Tadashi half-walks, half-limps his way to his aunt's bathroom where he takes care of the said problem before returning to the bedroom. Honestly, his body is just making him feel horrible at this point at this point, so he flops face-first onto his bed, not really wanting to move or talk or do anything.

A part of Hiro doesn't want to mention what he'd just realized after seeing how awful Tadashi was feeling again, but the other part knows his brother probably isn't thinking about this and it was too tempting to pass up getting another chance to mess with him.

"You know," the younger boy slowly began, a smile creeping up on his lips despite his best effort keep his face neutral, "this means that if you stay a girl for another month you could technically get pregnant..." He couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of him as he adds, "You ready to be a daddy, or mommy, as the case would be?"

"WHAT?!" Tadashi looks up at Hiro in complete and utter horror. "You-you can't be serious? Oh my gosh, Hiro, I'm not ready for that!"

"What, you're not planning on doing anything where you'd get pregnant, are you?" Hiro replies, greatly amused by his brother's reaction.

"No..." Tadashi responds, drawing his knees up to his chest and still feeling extremely freaked out. "But what if something happens that I can't control? Oh gosh, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to leave the house now..."

 **"** Don't your female friends go out?" Hiro asked, smirking. "Besides, you're a black belt in karate! You could totally defend yourself if the worst came to worst!"

"You're right, you're right," Tadashi agrees with a sigh after considering this for a moment. "Sorry, this is just-it's a little weird for me, you know?"

"It's ok," the younger Hamada reassured him. "What does Aunt Cass do when she gets emotional?"

"Stress eating-and hey, who said anything about me being emotional?" Tadashi shoots back, feeling slightly offended.

Hiro raised an eyebrow and deadpanned, "You've gone from happy to completely panicked to calm to freaking out again and angry all in a span of less than 5 minutes."

"You're right. Oh my gosh, I'm completely losing it," Tadashi cries, putting his head in his hands and seriously hating that he has the urge to cry again.

Hiro stifled a groan. Seriously, they needed to get Tadashi back to normal as soon possible-he had no idea how he'd handle this for very long. How did other girls not lose their minds?

"Bro, just relax, ok?" he finally says. "We'll get through this, just like we always do. But we can't do that if you keep freaking out on me!"

"Right." Tadashi tries to take a nice long breath to calm himself down, knowing that the last thing that they need is for him to be getting even more emotional. But somehow in trying to contain his emotions, he only makes things worse and suddenly burst out crying.

Unsure of what else he could do, Hiro awkwardly wrapped his arms around his brother, saying, "It's going to be ok, I promise. We will be ok. We're going to do this together."

Tadashi doesn't say anything, only wrapping his arms around his otouto and hugging him close. Somehow snuggling with his little brother always makes him feel better.

Hiro could feel his niisan slowly relaxing, in turn made him sigh with relief. At least something was working. Tadashi had always been a major cuddler, so it made some sense. He just needed to figure out a way to keep him relaxed.

"Thank you," the older boy finally mumbles, his face pressed up against his little brother's shoulder. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Not as awesome as you are, bro," Hiro answered softly. Then, things getting a little too mushy for his taste, he adds, "Now, we'd better get working on a way to fix this or else I really will have to start saying 'sis'."

"Right," Tadashi agrees with a firm nod. The sooner they did this, the better. On top of his own problems, Honey Lemon needed to get back to normal too, so technically he owed it to her to try to figure out a way to fix this. He starts to get up from the bed, only to cringe as yet another wave of stomach pain and nausea hits him.

"Maybe we should start by looking up some ways to help with the pain," Hiro suggested, frowning when he saw his brothers face twisted in discomfort.

"Good idea," Tadashi agrees, wincing slightly as he eases himself back down.

Hiro jumped on his computer and typed "How to help period cramps". Instantly dozens of lists with recommended ideas popped up on the screen.

"Ok, let's see..." the younger Hamada mumbles, browsing through the suggestions. "This list says to eat banana's and omega-3 fatty acids...yuck. It also says to not drink caffeine and to drink tea. You can also use heating pads on your stomach or massage it… Oh, this sounds fun-acupuncture! Personally, I've been dying to poke you with a bunch of needles." He grins mischievously over at his brother.

"NO ACUPUNCTURE!" Tadashi shouts, feeling instantly alarmed. "Seriously bro, have you gone mental, or have you always been this secretly sadistic? Gosh sakes, I thought I raised you better than this..."

Hiro burst out laughing at his niisan's shout and assured, "I was kidding, sheesh! I don't want to poke you with needles, I promise. I mean, apparently when a professional does it, it works wonders, but that doesn't do us much good. What about any of these other ideas?"

"Well, I know that heating pads sometimes work for upset stomachs," Tadashi responds after a moment's thought. "Let's give that a try."

"I'll get the heating pad," Hiro replied, racing off to the kitchen. He quickly found the heating pad and heated it up in the microwave before bringing it back up to his brother. He carefully placed the pad on the older Hamada's stomach and asked, "Does that help?"

"Yeah, it does," Tadashi agrees after the heat has a moment to start helping. He gives his little brother a tired smile. "Thanks, Hiro. You're amazing."

"Thanks," Hiro muttered, not feeling quiet as amazing as Tadashi seemed to think he was. "We can see how this does and try something else if it doesn't help, okay?" he adds.

"Sounds good," Tadashi agrees. He allows himself to close his eyes—maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just… let himself rest…for a…minute… Zzzzzz…


	10. Chapter 10

Tadashi's eyes had been shut for what feels like only a moment, but the next time he opens them he realizes that quite some amount of time has passed as the sun is now low in the sky. "Hiro?" he calls, feeling somewhat disoriented and trying to locate his younger brother. What was he doing in bed in the middle of the afternoon? Why did his body feel so weird, and furthermore, why did he have a heating pad on his stomach? Then the events of the day come back to him and he lets out a low groan. So much for hoping that this had all been a dream. Why couldn't it be that the nice dreams were the ones that came true and the bad ones that stayed as dreams?

Hiro smirked as his brother drifted off-he'd really worn himself out. Then the younger Hamada settled down at his desk to get some homework done. Though he'd told himself that there would be no homework this weekend, Tadashi knocking himself out left him with little excuse to not get some stuff done. Besides, with his school assignments out of the way, they could focus on trying to get the older boy back to normal. He had expected for his niisan to wake up long before he finished, but when he completed his work and found that the his brother was still fast asleep, he'd decided to try working on a few ideas as to how to get him back to normal. He hadn't gotten very far when his brother finally woke up and started calling out his name.

"Over here," Hiro said, waving to reassure his niisan that everything was all right. "I've been trying to come up with something to change you back, but without knowing what changed you, I'm kind of stuck..."

"Oh wow, you've been working while I was asleep?" Tadashi feels guilty for having passed out on his brother like that. Truth be told, though, he does feel a lot better now that he'd gotten a chance to rest and, on top of that, his thoughts had seemed to have finally settled while his brain had been temporarily turned off and things were a lot clearer. Forcing himself back up to sitting position, he says, "Honestly, I'm beginning to get the picture that we're just going to have to wait this one out and see what happens. Usually in genderbends I've read about online things work themselves out eventually." Then, suddenly feeling the emptiness in his stomach (he hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning), he swings his legs over the side of the bed and asks with a slight grin, "So, how would you feel about me making us some dinner?"

"Sure," Hiro replied, following Tadashi downstairs. "But there's a problem with this plan of yours: yeah, things work out ok in stories, but last I checked, this isn't a story! I don't see how this will just 'sort itself out'. I do not want to have you as a sister instead of a brother! That would get way too weird, especially for whatever girl you've been crushing on." Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't resist throwing in the comment about his niisan's crush—maybe, if he played his cards right, he could finally get some clues as to who this mystery person was.

"Hey, I don't want to be stuck like this any more than you do, but until we know why this happened, I don't know what we can realistically do," Tadashi fires back. "Even if we figured out how to switch me back, what if whatever caused this in the first place gets reversed and then I'm stuck as a girl again, possibly permanently?! And for the record, a) Honey is not my crush, and b)...she actually got genderbent too." He cringes slightly, hoping that Honey won't kill him later for revealing this fact, but maybe being at least slightly open about this will finally get Hiro off of his case.

"Wait... so your crush's name is Honey?" Hiro asked, a wicked smile on his face. "And you were having coffee with her when you guys got changed **?"**

"She's not my crush, but yes, we were having coffee when this happened," Tadashi confirms. Then suddenly his eyes go wide as the realization hits him. "Wait, you don't think it was something in the coffee, do you? I mean, we've known Miss June for years-she'd never do that, even if she knew how!"

"Sure she's not..." Hiro answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. His niisan could deny it all he wanted, but he could tell that his brother liked this Honey. Why else would he take her to the coffee shop where their parents had met? Still, Tadashi had a point. "Miss June couldn't have done this even if she wanted to," the younger Hamada agreed with a laugh.

"Yeah, not only am I pretty sure that she doesn't have some secret lab for mixing up gender-bending serums, she's waaaay too nice," Tadashi agrees, heading over to the fridge to find ingredients for dinner. "I mean, seriously, she's a little bit on the conniving side like what she did with setting Dad and Mom up, but she wouldn't do this!"

"Any particular reason that you chose that coffee shop to take Honey to?" Hiro asked, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Um, because it's like the closest one to the lab?" Tadashi responds, glad that he has a half-decent explanation.

"Right..." Hiro deadpanned. Seriously, a reality TV show host would be having a field day with this!

Knowing that his younger brother wouldn't leave him alone until he had the full story, Tadashi lets out a sigh of defeat and admits, "All right, I took her there because of the porch. I met her back in orientation, and we've sort of gotten to know each other, but the truth is... I really want to be good friends with her. I mean, she's smart and funny and adorable-and she's one of the first people that I've ever met who was actually really excited about her field of study. I mean, you should see how big her eyes get whenever she talks about chemistry- it's like the cutest thing in the world! And I thought that taking there might, well...y'know, help things along."

"Right... help along the totally platonic and not at all romantic friendship you have with this girl who you think is cute and adorable. Which I totally believe is completely and utterly platonic. Because all platonic friends go to the coffee shop where their parents met and call each other cute. Totally not romantic," Hiro teased.

"Okay, so maybe I do have a bit of a crush on her," Tadashi finally admits, unable to keep from smiling slightly because it's nice to finally be able to talk to _someone_ about this, even if he knows that he's liable to get teased about it. "I can't help it. She's just... _so_ amazing, y'know?"

Hiro smirked, feeling victorious. He finally knew who his brother was crushing on. Now he just had to find a way meet her... "What's she like?" he plies, deciding to see how far he could take this.

"Oh man, where do I begin?" Tadashi grins. "For one thing, she's got a great sense of humor. She's really dedicated to her work, but she doesn't get so wrapped up in it that she forgets to smile or have fun. She's really nice to everyone, and you can tell that it isn't forced-it's just the way she is. She's sort of like a ray of sunshine-you can just see her coming towards you from halfway across the room and feel instantly better about everything, and she somehow always knows exactly how to turn a bad day around without even trying. I guess in a way she sort of reminds me of you when you were younger."

"M-m-me?" Hiro stammered, shocked. He never quite knew what to say whenever his niisan complimented him like that. "I _was_ like a ray of sunshine?" he eventually said, trying to hide how embarrassed he was by the compliment.

"Well, yeah," Tadashi agrees, finally turning his attention back to getting out the cutting board and the vegetables for dinner. "Seriously, you were like the happiest little kid on the planet! You were always running around in your own little happy fantasy world, building things and never letting anyone else's limits hold you back. You thought you could change the whole world, and no one believed that more than I did-especially when you'd smile at me with that big gap-tooth grin of yours." He turned back to look at Hiro with a slightly sad expression on his face. "You know that I hardly ever see you smile anymore?"

Hiro slumped over slightly and mumbled, "It's hard to smile when no one thinks you're worth anything..." He couldn't look his brother in the eye, embarrassed by the sudden surge of emotion that had filled him.

"Hey, don't say that!" Tadshi cries, hurrying over and kneeling down in front of Hiro, putting both of his hands on his brother's shoulders to make sure that he's paying attention to him. "You are worth so, so much-more than you could ever possibly know. God has great things in store for you-things that are going to blow everyone's minds. Every night when I pray for you, I just know it's going to come true. But you've just got to have a little patience while He's working things out. And for the record, to me you're worth more than everyone else in the whole world put together. You're my little bro, and I would happily put my life on the line for you."

Hiro opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying and failing to get the words out. He blinked a few times, feeling his eyes beginning to grow misty. It seemed no matter how horrible he was, his niisan still loved him. He ducked his head, trying and failing to hide the tears that were forming. "I feel like I'm the one turning into a girl..." he muttered by way of explanation, forcing out a weak laugh that sounded pathetic even to him. He wondered sometimes if God would be disgusted with how he acted, going out illegally bot fighting all of the time… "Would God—would God love me even if I kept doing bad things and kept messing up?" he finally asks his brother quietly.

"Oh Hiro..." Tadashi hugs him close. "Of course He would! Do you think the rest of us don't make a mess of things every day? I think He understands that we're weak and we make mistakes, but He's always waiting there for us whenever we fall to pick us back up again." He tries to grasp a better way to comfort his little brother, and then the words of an old song come to him. "Someone put it like this once: 'Let me tell you a secret about a father's love, a secret that my daddy said was just between us. He said, Daddies don't just love their children every now and then. It's a love without end, amen.' That's how God loves you, and that's how I love you too, okay little bro?"

Hiro weakly smiled and muttered, "Sorry I... I just don't know what's wrong with me today..." He tried to subtly wipe away the tears that were trying to form, but didn't quite succeed. "I... I just want you to be proud of me..." he finally whispers.

"Hey, never apologize for being honest about what you're feeling," Tadashi answers, reaching up to lightly brush his brother's hair out of his face. "And I will always, always be proud of you, no matter what you do."

Hiro looked up at his niisan and said, "You're the best brother/sister ever, you know that, right?"

"Well, I try," Tadashi responds with a slight wink, deciding to let the whole "sister" thing slide. "Now, do you want to help me with making the pizza?" he asks, getting back up.

"Sure, what do you need me to do?" Hiro asks, glad for the distraction and that all of the emotional stuff was finally over.

"Um, maybe get out the pepperoni and start chopping some vegetables while I work on the crust?" Tadashi suggest, going into the cupboards to grab the ingredients that he needs.

"Ok!" Hiro agreed, grabbing the toppings for the pizza.

As he starts working on the dough, the older of the Hamadas can't help but think of how similar this is to this morning. That in turn leads him to think about how similar that morning had been to his dream with little Hiro...

.no. Tadashi can't help but feel a tiny spark of fear in his heart as his eyes go wide. Not here. Not now. The last thing that he needs is for those feelings to come back right when things were actually starting to be okay between him and his brother. Out of desperation, he does the only thing he can think of to clear those thoughts out of his head. Reaching into the bag of flour, he picks up a handful while his otouto's head is turned and shouts, "DOUGH FIGHT!"

"Wha-?" Hiro began ask, only get a face-full of flour. He blinked in shock, the situation vividly reminding of the dream he'd had earlier. Pushing the déjà vu aside, though, he smirked before grabbing some flour and throwing it at his niisan, laughing, "You're gonna get it now, bro!"

"You've got to catch me first," Tadashi shoots back, ducking beneath the table, but not before launching another flour bomb.

Hiro dove out of the way of the bomb, grabbing some of the vegetables he'd been chopping and throwing them over the table, hoping a that at least a few would hit his target.

Tadashi laughs as he gets rained on by chopped veggies, and then gathers them back up to toss back at his otouto.

Hiro, realizing that he was out of ammo, jumped towards the counter and grabbed some of the pizza dough. He threw it at his brother just as a few of the vegetables hit his own face.

"Whoa!" Tadashi laughs, wiping the dough off. Leaping up from beneath the table, he makes a grab for the dough bowl, and just barely manages to get a scoop out of it. He's about to lob it at his younger brother when he suddenly gets a better idea. Instead of throwing it at his otouto, he hug-tackles him and then puts the dough on the end of Hiro's nose. "There," he says, sounding satisfied. "Now we match."

The younger Hamada froze when his brother put the dough on his face. That was...unexpected. Did Tadashi know about the dream, or was it all just one big crazy coincidence? A part of him wanted to ask, but another part of him was afraid of getting laughed at. It was ridiculous, really-there was no way they could have possibly had the same dream... right?

"Well," he finally said, breaking the silence, "the bad news is it looks like we lost our dinner... But, on the plus side, at least you don't have anything to burn. You should really get Aunt Cass to teach you how to cook without burning everything."

Earlier Tadashi would have instantly freaked out at his otouto saying this, trying to figure out if it was a reference to the dream. But, honestly, he'd had just so much weird stuff happen to him that day, plus it sounded like something his brother would say on a regular basis (Tadashi was, in fact, an excellent cook although Hiro refused to admit it), that he just let it slide. Grabbing the phone, he tosses it to Hiro. "Here, it sounds like we're having takeout," he says with a smile, getting up to start cleaning the mess they'd made. Still, not willing to let the jab about his cooking go unpunished, he adds, "And as for burning everything, I'm guessing that means that you don't want any homemade chocolate chip cookies later."

"No, no I want them..." Hiro answers, trying to make it sound off-handed. "I mean, it'll be good practice for you and I will gladly sacrifice myself and eat them all so you don't have to endure the horror of eating them. That's just how great a brother I am!"

"The world thanks you for your willingness to suffer," Tadashi deadpans to the first remark with a bemused smirk, starting to mix the ingredients for the cookies.

"I'm a giver," Hiro agreed, a smirk on his face. Then he dialed their favorite order-out place, craving pizza after almost getting a delicious home-made one. Once he was done ordering, he put the phone up and said, "Pizza'll be here in 30 minutes."

"Good," Tadashi says with a relieved smile, continuing to work on the dough. "The last thing we need tonight is either of us getting even more emotional because we don't have any food in our stomachs."

"Want some help?" Hiro offers, before quickly adding, "Unless you plan on throwing dough at me again..."

"I won't if you promise not to insult my cooking," Tadashi replies, giving him a light whack with the whisk.

"Deal!" Hiro agreed. "What would you like me to do, Chef Big Bro?"

"Um... find some chocolate chips and whatever else you want to put in the cookies," Tadashi finally replies after giving it a moment's thought.

"Are you sure whatever I want?" Hiro teased, grabbing chocolate chips and pecans. "Cuz if that's the case, I'm going to dump gummy bears in there!"

"Pecans, yes-gummy bears no," Tadashi responds, giving him a slight grin. Honestly, his brother probably thought that gummy bears were their own food group…

"You're no fun," Hiro fake-pouted, setting the chocolate chips and pecans down next to his brother before asking, "What now, Chef Bro?"

"Hm... if you can get out some cookie sheets while I start the oven preheating, I think we can get these bad boys cooking," Tadashi replies with a slight smile.

Hiro nodded and pulled out the cookie sheets while his niisan started the oven. Then together they started scooping out the dough onto the sheets. "Ready when you are!" the younger boy announces a few minutes later.

"All right, let's put them in," Tadashi agrees, sliding the first tray in. Then startles as he hears the doorbell ring. "Oh, the pizza must be here! Do you think you can finish with these in while I get that?" he asks, wiping his hands on a towel.

"Sure thing," Hiro agrees, giving him a mock-salute.

Chuckling slightly at his brother's antics, Tadashi heads out into the main hall to answer the door and get their dinner.

"Pizza!" the delivery man announced when the door opened. Then he let out an involuntary gasp as he saw the woman who was standing there. "Oh, wow…"

"Um... hi?" Tadashi responds, wondering for a moment why the guy was staring at him like that. Then it hits him. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no! OH HECK NO! This guy wasn't trying to flirt with him, was he?!

The pizza guy blankly held onto the pizza box, forgetting his purpose for even being here as he said, "Do you have a map? Cuz I'm getting lost in your eyes..." Man this girl had pretty eyes. And her hair was perfect. _She_ was perfect. He'd never seen anyone quite like her before... It was official—he had finally found the one: his soul mate. It was destiny. It had to be! Fate had sent him to this house so that he could give this girl her deep dish peperoni pizza and they could fall madly in love.

Tadashi freezes. Oh, this is wrong. This is wrong on so many levels. And now he's extremely glad that he's never tried to use a pickup line in his life because now he knows just how awkward it is to be on the receiving end up one. "Um...t-thanks?" he finally stammers as he takes the pizza, not sure what else to say. Maybe if he's polite and just doesn't show any interest, the guy will go away.

Unfortunately, the pizza guy took the woman's thanks as a prompt to keep going. "I'd offer you a cigarette, but you're already smoking hot," he tells her coyly. Maybe if he keeps flirting long enough, he can get her number so they can start planning the first date in what was sure to be a long, blissful series of them, culminating in a moonlit proposal, a gorgeous wedding, and the perfect Happily Ever After.

Tadashi freaks out for two seconds-seriously, was this guy for real? Cigarettes? That's both horrible for a person's health _and_ one of the worst lines he'd ever heard! But how was he supposed to get him to stop? Then, suddenly, all of his years spent reading every book in the public library, including all of the teen girl ones, finally come in handy as the proper line comes to him. "I like your approach," he says, getting into the role by putting one hand on his hip and giving the guy a smirk. "Now let's see your departure."

The pizza guy, though, only heard "I like your approach" and took this as a sign to say, "Hey I lost my number on the way over... can I have yours?"

"Well, I would give it to you," Tadashi responds with fake sweetness, probably enjoying this way too much, "but I'd be afraid that you'd actually call."

The pizza sighed at her sweet voice. But why didn't she want him to call? Maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough. "I hope you know CPR, because you took my breath away."

"I do" Tadashi replies, beginning to feel fed up with the guy's incessant flirting-can't he take a hint? "But honestly, I have a black belt in karate and I'd rather deck you one and just finish the job."

He didn't know why this chick was being so unreasonable, he was complimenting her! She should be begging for a date. What if she had a boyfriend, though? That was it. She was taken. Instantly he feels crushed—but it doesn't take him long to bounce back. "Oh I get it, you probably have a boyfriend right?" he says, trying to sound unconcerned. "That's cool- I can still give you my number in case things don't work out!" If he had to, he would hunt the guy down and force him to break up with her—it was destiny, he was meant to be with this girl, and nothing would stand in the way of their love!

"Tell you what-how about instead of you giving me your number, I give you a clue?" And with that, Tadashi slams the door in the guy's face.

The delivery guy stands there, blinking his eyes rapidly. Wait, had she just slammed the door in his face? Most people would be deterred by this—but not him. Oh no. This was fate, he just knew it! "I will come back for you," he says determinedly, heading back to his car to do his next delivery. It didn't matter how long it took—he would see her again, and when he did they would profess their undying love for each other and live happily ever after!

"And _that_ is how the pizza gets served," Tadashi says meanwhile, nodding his head in satisfaction and blissfully unaware that his future was being planned for him in the mind of the poor, deluded pizza delivery boy he had just shut down.

Hiro, who had been listening the whole time, burst out laughing when Tadashi slammed the door shut.

"That was hilarious!" he exclaimed, doubled over with laughter. "Apparently you are way better looking as a girl than as a dude! You may have to get a fake boyfriend to shake off creeps like that!"

"Ya think?" Tadashi shakes his head, still feeling vaguely ticked off at the delivery person. "Now I know why girls complain about guys so much-I didn't realize how many jerks there were out there! Seriously, he didn't even know me and he thinks he has the right to ask for my number! Unbelievable!"

"Hey, at least you've never done anything like that." Hiro said, trying to make his brother feel a little better. "And if you ever feel tempted to even remotely act like that, just think about this whole situation-this, and know that I'd punch you if you ever did."

"Trust me, I never had any inclination to, and if anything I'm probably going to punch out any guy I see trying to pull any funny business like that on a girl," Tadashi agrees, nodding his head firmly.

"Maybe all of this happened so you'd know how annoying getting unwanted attention is and so you'd be more sensitive to it and punch out any crazy guys you see hitting on girls like that," Hiro suggested before joking, "Or the universe was just bored and wanted its own live action soap opera to watch."

"I don't know about that last part, but I'm definitely going to be a lot more sensitive to what girls have to go through after this," Tadashi agrees with a slight chuckle before going vaguely serious. "For example, what they have to go through to get clothes! I mean, honestly, we just walk into a store, find a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that fit, and we're good to go-maybe a little bit more effort if we're trying to dress up, but still, it's fairly simple. Them? They've got like fifty different stores with a million different types of clothing in them that they have to sort through! I mean, jeggings? Pencil skirts? Bolero jackets? Who comes up with this stuff? And heaven help the poor girl who visits a makeup counter-it's like getting attacked by the mafia or something!"

"Careful, bro, or you'll start thinking like a girl," Hiro teased before answering his question with a sight shrug, "I'm pretty sure the whole thing's just another quick way for people to make money-like Valentine's day. I mean, what is the point of that holiday? Shouldn't you always celebrate loved ones?"

Tadashi's about to answer that first part when he was struck by the wisdom of Hiro's last statement. Seriously, sometimes he can't believe that Hiro was only 13 years old. Still, as an older brother, he can't pass up an opportunity like that to get all sappy, so he merely says, "Oh, you mean like-this?" He instantly glomps onto his little brother, glad to finally have an excuse to give him a hug.

"Gah!" Hiro exclaimed in fake agony. "Nooo, girl cooties! I'm going to die!" He pretending to be in the throes of death, slumping in Tadashi's arms and whispering, "Tell Aunt Cass... I... Love... her..." Then he dramatically fake-passed out before cracking an eye open and asking, "How convincing was that?"

"Terrible," Tadashi laughs. "Good effort, though."

Hiro stuck out his tongue and laughed. " _I_ think I was amazing!"

"Well, don't quit your day job to become an actor, that's all I can say," Tadashi chuckles as the timer on the oven alerts him to the fact that the cookies are done and he goes over to pull the trays out.

"Oh come on, you're crushing my dream!" Hiro lamented as he watches his brother. "I've secretly always wanted to be an actor and now you've ruined it! You've crushed my heart and soul beyond repair! I'll never do anything but lie around, wondering what could have been! I hope you're happy!"

"Since when have you wanted to be an actor?" Tadashi returns with a slight grin, now done with the cookies and moving on to pulling out plates and cups. The day he saw Hiro reciting Shakespeare on the stage was the day Aunt Cass became a dog person.

"Since always!" Hiro dramatically declared, throwing his arms out. "I love it more than working at Hamada Bros Inc.-especially since you crushed my dream and made me become a lifeless couch potato with no hopes and dreams!"

Tadashi lets out his own dramatic gasp and puts a hand up to his forehead, pretending to be about to faint. "More than Hamada Bros Inc? No, it cannot be! What sort of witchery has caused you to spout such heresy?!"

Pretending to cry, Hiro whispered, "You... when you crushed my dream!"

"Oh, give it a rest," Tadashi giggles, unable to stay serious for too long when his brother's acting like this. "You told me back in junior high, and I quote, 'If I ever have to read another page of Romeo and Juliet in my life I am going to barf multicolored gummy bear puke all over the teacher's shoes.'"

"Spoil sport," Hiro grumbled between laughs. "How can anyone read that garbage, though? Who kills themselves for someone they just met? You might be able to convince me to marry someone, but not kill myself!"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't want you to," Tadashi agrees. "That's definitely not the type of girl I want to see you with."

"What, suicide a bit too extreme for you?" Hiro teased, playful grin on his face. "What if I told you I had found my one true love and I would do anything for her?"

"If it was the only way for you to save her life, than maybe," Tadashi responds, suddenly going somewhat serious. "But I'd never let you kill yourself just to make a statement. I-I couldn't lose you like that, Hiro."

Hiro frowned at the intensity of his brother's voice, a tight feeling in his chest. "I wouldn't ever do that..." he says quietly. "And I don't know what I'd do if... if something bad happened to you...Promise you won't do anything stupid like that?"

Tadashi gets down on his knees in front of his little brother. "Hiro," he says, taking one of the boy's hands in his own, "I swear to you, on my honor as a Hamada brother, that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things look, I will always, _always_ come back to you."

Hiro ducked his head so his niisan wouldn't see that he was getting teary eyed from his declaration. "I'll hold you to that bro," he whispers, "even if I have to drag you back to the land of the living myself."

"Hey, I hope it never comes to that, but thank you for the offer," Tadashi says with a slight smile, tucking a strand of hair lovingly behind his brother's ear.

Hiro laughed and rolled his eyes, trying to lighten the situation before saying with fake intensity, "It better not! I don't want to accidentally start the zombie apocalypse while trying to re-animate you!"

"No zombie apocalypse," Tadashi promises, giving him an amused smile and getting back up off of the floor. "Now c'mon, let's stop being so depressing and get eating!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Sounds good to me!" Hiro exclaimed, following his brother over to the table.

As Tadashi's setting the dishes out somehow, somehow he's reminded of his afternoons working in the cafe and he can't help but wonder aloud, "What do you suppose Aunt Cass is doing right now?"

"Eh, probably being bored out of her skull without us," Hiro answers with a slight smile.

"We do keep her life interesting," Tadashi laughs, opening up the pizza box and helping himself to a slice (after what he'd gone through with the delivery person, he'd earned it!)

"She hasn't had a boring day in a long time!" Hiro agreed, grabbing a slice for himself.

"Yeah…" Tadashi shakes his head before adding, "I mean, seriously, what do you think she'd have done if she were here and I'd come home looking like this?" He gestures to himself and his obviously feminine appearance.

"I think she'd laugh and think it was some elaborate prank," Hiro decided after a minute of contemplation.

"She probably would," Tadashi agrees.

"I mean, come on, this does seem a little crazy!" Hiro laughs.

"You think this only seems a _little_ crazy?" Tadashi give him a disbelieving look. "You're talking to the guy who just got his gender swapped-I'd say it's more like completely insane!"

"Oh, stop being a drama queen!" Hiro teased. "It's not totally unrealistic to be turned into a girl! I mean, it happens in soap operas all the time."

"Wait, since when do you watch soap operas?" Tadashi asks, raising a curiously amused eyebrow.

"Not me, Aunt Cass," Hiro explained. "Don't you hear her complain about them over breakfast?"

"Um... not so much," Tadashi answers with a slightly sheepish grin. "Honestly, I'm usually pretty dead in the mornings after staying up late studying."

Hiro rolled his eyes and replied, "Ok fine, but she does. All. The. Time. I don't even watch half these shows but I know the plot about as well as she does!"

"Wow, maybe it's a good thing I'm half-asleep," Tadashi laughs, although secretly he makes a mental note to make sure that his otouto never finds out about all the J dramas that he has downloaded on his laptop.

"Maybe I should start taking pages out of your book," Hiro adds laughing.

"Well, I wouldn't recommend killing yourself studying to do it, but yeah, sometimes a little sleep deprivation can actually be useful," Tadashi agrees with a slight smirk.

"Anything's better than spending another morning listening to Aunt Cass complain about Mrs. Smith cheating on Mr. Smith again," Hiro grumbled.

"Ugh, you'd think she'd at least try to set a better example," Tadashi groans slightly. He didn't want to ping on his aunt, but seriously, what sort of message was she sending to the two of them by watching such trashy shows?

Hiro laughed and said, "She could at least pick up a parenting book."

"Well, I guess that's what I'm here for," Tadashi answers, not fully thinking his response through before he let it slip out.

"You always did a lot of the parenting stuff," Hiro agreed. A part of him wanted to say more, but the other didn't want to freak Tadashi out by saying he was more of a parent than Aunt Cass.

"I-I just hope that I didn't do too much of it," Tadashi responds, blushing slightly.

Hiro grinned and replied, "Why, would that be a bad thing?"

"I dunno." Tadashi shrugs, feeling slightly uncomfortable and hating that it probably sounded like he was upset with Hiro, which he wasn't. He was just... scared. He looks up to meet eyes with his little brother. "You were the one on the receiving end of it-what did you think?" he finally answers, deciding to put the onus on his otouto.

"I'd say you've done a good job," Hiro replied, shrugging. "Aunt Cass was always so busy... It was nice to have someone looking out for me when she couldn't."

"Well, it's what any older brother would do," Tadashi replies with a smile, mentally adding, _And what any dad would do..._

"You're a great brother..." Hiro replied, ducking his head.

"And your an amazing mu-otouto," Tadashi replies, wincing as he almost makes the same slip-up as earlier. Gosh, why couldn't he get a handle on this? It wasn't safe for either of them, and he needed to find some way to stop it. The question was, how?

"So, um, I think we were talking about trying to find some sort of way to change me back?" he quickly says, getting up out of his chair and starting to head in the direction of the door.

Hiro frowned slightly, confused as to why Tadashi was freaking out so suddenly. Sighing, he reluctantly stood and followed him, worried he'd angered his niisan and hoping he wouldn't do it again.

"Well... maybe we could build something that could change your DNA?" he suggested in a small voice. Why did he keep making his brother angry at him?

Tadashi freezes as he hears the change in his otouto's voice. Oh gosh no, he had done it again! Why did he keep doing this? Okay, that was it-this had officially gone far enough. He couldn't keep hurting his brother like this. So, painful as it was, he made the decision to do something which he hoped would be best for both of them-he took every parental or fatherly instinct that he had towards Hiro, wrapped it into a tight little ball, and shoved it waaaay, way down inside of him. Then he locked it behind a protective door and threw the key away into a far corner of his subconscious where he hoped he'd never find it again.

As he came back to the present, he shook his head slightly, his memory of what had happened then and every time before slowly draining away. He cocks his head slightly, wondering why his younger brother looks so sad. "Hey, you okay?" he asks, feeling slightly concerned. For two seconds he wonders if he should hug him, but then stops himself. Why would he hug him? That would just be weird! So instead he settles for ruffling his hair and giving him a caring but slightly confused smile.

Hiro tried to force himself to smile and said, "Yea...I'm ok. What do you think?"

"About...?" Tadashi asks, blinking in an innocent but lost manner before giving an embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry, I think I blacked out there for a second, I have, like, no memory of the last couple of minutes."

"A machine that could alter your DNA..." Hiro mumbled. "What, are you ignoring me now?"

"No, seriously!" Tadashi shakes his head, his eyes going slightly wide with worry as he tries but fails to recall the last few minutes. "I literally cannot remember anything of the conversation that we just had! Oh gosh, do you think the genderswap's starting to mess with my memory?"

Hiro burst out laughing at his brother's freak out, realizing that his niisan's earlier attitude was probably a result of his recent mood swings. "You were probably thinking too hard and overloaded your brain," he tells the older boy, smirking slightly and feeling much better about the whole situation.

"Yeah, probably," Tadashi agrees with a slight sigh before giving his brother a lopsided smile. He still has a niggling feeling that something's wrong, like a quiet voice inside of him is trying to tell him something, but he pushes it away for the moment and continues, "Okay, so you said something about a DNA altering machine? I'm totally down with that. Let's do this!"

"Come on!" Hiro exclaimed, dragging his elder sibling down to the garage. Before they could get started, though, the young genius froze. What if Tadashi's DNA actually hadn't been altered at all? Trying to mess with his genetic code, only to find out that he'd done irreversible damage, would be a disaster! These thoughts running through his mind, he looked back at his older brother and said, "Maybe the first thing we should do is see if your DNA changed as well..."

"Good idea," Tadashi agrees with a nod. "I mean, we don't want to go altering my genetic structure only for me to get switched back by whatever originally caused this and I end up getting stuck permanently as a girl, right?"

"Right!" Hiro agreed. After some brief consultation, the younger Hamada got to work on building a scanner that would be able to look at Tadashi's DNA, allowing them to figure out what exactly was going on. Once it was finished he asked, "Ready?"

"Let's do this," Tadashi agrees with a firm nod, trying to act braver than he felt. What exactly were they going to find? Well, it was probably better to get this over with than to drag it out any longer.

Hiro grinned and scanned his niisan's body, quickly scrolling through the information that popped up on the screen as it appeared. "Just as I suspected!" he cheered few moments later. "Congratulations, it's a girl!"

"Geeze, you couldn't have had more tact about it?" Tadashi groans, facepalming and wishing that his little brother didn't always spout the first thing that came to mind.

"What? Saying, 'Congratulations, you now have two x chromosomes!' is so _boring_. This was far more interesting!" Hiro shoots back.

"'Interesting' is definitely the term for it," Tadashi deadpans, trying not to let on just how freaked out all of this is making him feel. It was bad enough when he knew that he just looked like a girl-the fact that his entire DNA had actually been altered to that of the opposite sex was making it all a little too real.

"Don't worry, bro, we will get you back to normal in no time!" Hiro exclaimed, trying to sound more confident than he felt. This was going to be his hardest project yet, but he'd work nonstop for the rest of his life if it would help his brother.

"I appreciate that," Tadashi says, giving his otouto a grateful smile. "Do you have any actual ideas as to how to do that?"

"Well, we need to figure out how to make something that can alter DNA," Hiro began slowly, thinking out loud. "We should start small, see if we can do simple things like eye color then move on..." He trailed off, his mind in a whirlwind.

"Whoa, hey, we're not going to go changing my eye color!" Tadashi protests. "I like my eyes the way they are, thank you very much!"

"We would change it back!" Hiro exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "I just want to test that it works properly before doing something big, like changing your gender!"

"Um, maybe we could do something a little less worrisome-like my hair?" Tadashi suggests weakly. "I mean, we can always dye it if something went wrong there."

"Ok fine, whatever. Just something other than gender or anything vital to your survival," Hiro sighed, starting to work on something that would, hopefully, do just that.

"Anything I can do to help?" Tadashi asks after trying but not succeeding to keep from restlessly squirming for the better part of five minutes. He doesn't want to interrupt his brother's work, but he hates feeling completely useless.

"Yea, actually a second pair of eyes looking over my math would be perfect," Hiro said, handing his notes to his niisan.

"Great!" The older boy readily accepts the papers and looks them over, making one or two small adjustments before handing them back to Hiro. "Yeah, looks good," he agrees, feeling extremely impressed. "You did a really great job on it," he continues, ruffling his otouto's hair slightly. "Hey, maybe you have a future in the field of genetic engineering!"

"Thanks Dashi…" Hiro said, his cheeks turning bright red with embarrassment, before asking, "You really think so? I honestly haven't really thought about what I want to do... It just seems way to early, y'know?"

"I get that," Tadashi agrees with a slight nod, slightly reprimanding himself for sounding like one of those teachers that his brother's always complaining about. "I mean, as much as I do worry about what you're going to do in the future since you're getting ready to graduate from high school, I still have to remember that you're only thirteen-you're just barely a teenager!" he continues, almost thinking aloud at this point. "Trying to make you figure out what you're going to do with your life right now, when most people don't even have a clue about that even when they're in college, is too much pressure for you to be under. You need to be able to enjoy being young while you can. That other stuff will come sooner than you think, and I'd hate to think that I or anyone else was trying to pressure you into anything before it's the right time. God has a good way of bringing us to where we need to be in the proper time, and no one, not your teachers, not any nosy adults, not even me, has the right to try to interfere with that."

"Thanks," Hiro whispered, feeling immensely grateful. "I guess I just don't feel like college is for me, you know? Everyone kind of thinks and I need to start my life now and... and I really don't want to just yet. Thanks for understanding, bro."

Tadashi feels a slight twinge at that. Honestly, he's always dreamed of having Hiro come to SFIT with him-the Hamada bros always did everything together. But this isn't the time or the place for a speech about the importance of a higher education. The important thing is that Hiro's happy with his life right now, and he'll do whatever it takes sure that things stay that way. "Not a problem," the elder boy finally says, ruffling his sibling's hair. "You just take your time, and when you're ready, I'm sure you're going to do things that are going to blow everyone away."

Hiro slumped in relief before saying, "Hey, not just me! _We_ will blow the universe away! You and me, right?"

"You and me," Tadashi agrees, putting his hand up for a fist bump. Honestly, he realizes, even if his otouto never went to college, it would be okay. The two of them would always be together and be there to keep each other safe and strong, and nothing in the world could ever change that.

Hiro grinned and returned the fist bump. He didn't know what life would bring him, but as long as he had his niisan with him he knew they could get through anything.

"So, how close are we to testing this thing out?" Tadashi asks with a slight smile, trying to keep this situation from getting too emotional for his ototuo's taste and turning his attention back to the creation that his little brother's been working on.

"Soon, hopefully," Hiro replied, continuing to tinker with his device. It was going to be a large remote with a display and several controls to set what he wanted it to do. "I just need to finish a few things," he continues, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration.

"Right." Tadashi nods, trying to be patient. Honestly, the sooner he can get back to normal, the better for everyone. Plus, if they can get him fixed, then they can get Honey Lemon back to normal and-

Oh gosh. His whole face turns red as he realizes something that he hadn't thought of before. There's a very good chance that if they can get this to work, he's actually going to have to bring Honey Lemon back here to the house! And the way Hiro had been acting earlier, chances were that the younger Hamada was totally going to let something slip about how bad of a crush Tadashi had on her. It may not have been such a major issue in the grand scheme of things, but especially to someone in such a heightened emotional state, this was seriously not good...

After a few more minutes of tinkering Hiro triumphantly held up the finished remote and said, "Alright, ready to test this out?"

"Let's go for it!" Tadashi agrees, forcing himself to push his fears aside. Getting back to normal was more important than being embarrassed. Besides, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if Honey Lemon knew how he really felt about her...?

Well, he could think about that later. Right now he and his younger brother had an invention to test!

"Ok, so I'm going to try changing your hair to a lighter color…Um, how about blond?" Hiro mumbled, entering the command into the controller and pointing it at his brother. Taking a breath to calm himself, the younger boy fired it. The effect was instant, but instead of turning his niisan's hair blond, it turned _pink_. "Uh-oh..."

Tadashi's about to protest about the blond hair-personally, he would have preferred something to his original hair color, like brown-but it's too late. His otouto's already pulled the trigger. "Well, at least blond's not too bad," he tries to console himself. But then he hears Hiro's "uh oh" and instantly feels panic again. "Hiro, what did you do?" he asks, too scared to check for himself.

"Ummm... on the plus side, your hair changed color..." Hiro mumbled. "The minus is, well... yourhairispink." He quickly muttered the last part, wincing and half hoping that his brother hadn't heard him.

"It's...what?" Tadashi can't even process what his little brother says for a full thirty seconds, and then he lets out a terrified shriek as he looks down and sees that his hair is, indeed, a bright shade of metallic pink. "HIRO, WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

"Um, in my defense you said I should test it on you!" Hiro exclaimed

"I did but-nng, I didn't mean do _this_!" Tadashi shoots back, gesturing to his strawberry colored locks.

"Aw, come on it doesn't look that bad..." Hiro says, trying to make light of the situation.

"I'm not talking to you!" Tadashi turns his back on his younger brother, fuming slightly.

"B-b-but Dashi" Hiro whimpered, pouting.

Tadashi lets out a long and exasperated sigh, but he honestly can't stay mad at his otouto for very long. "All right, fine, I'm not really that mad," he finally admits, turning back to look at the younger Hamada. "But, seriously, why would you do something like this? It's bad enough that I'm stuck as a girl-did you have to make me look like I just fell out of an anime too?"

"It wasn't supposed to turn pink!" Hiro countered.

"Wait, so you didn't purposefully do this?" Tadashi asks, raising a confused eyebrow.

"No!" Hiro exclaimed. "This is not good! What did I do wrong? And why pink of all colors...?" He trailed off to begin angrily pacing.

"Whoa, hey, calm down!" Tadashi instantly feels terrible for getting upset with Hiro and making him feel bad. "Look, this isn't your fault," he quickly continues. "Believe me, I checked you math and it was absolutely perfect. I'm starting to think that whatever caused this genderbend in the first place is messing with us because it doesn't want me to get changed back-or, at least not yet."

"But _pink_!" Hiro exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "This makes no sense! How could something not 'want' you to change back? There is an explanation for this, and I _will_ find it!"

Tadashi shakes his head slightly. He always had been better at just accepting things as they were than Hiro, who liked to keep going even when he'd hit a brick wall. Both positions could be considered strengths or weaknesses, and he guessed that he and Hiro balanced each other out' so that's all that mattered in the end.

"Well, I'm not going to stand in your way, and I super appreciate your trying to help me," he finally responds with a slight smile, "but, if it makes you feel any better, I guess I've always sort of wondered what it would be like to have a totally crazy hair color. So technically, you just unintentionally helped me fulfill a bucket list item!"

"No it doesn't!" Hiro shouted before pausing. "Er, well, maybe.? No...yes? Wait, you wanted...? Ugh, never mind!It shouldn't have done that!" he finally snapped, angrily opening the remote to work on it some more.

"Hey, don't stress yourself out," Tadashi says, coming over and starting to massage his little bro's shoulders. "You're taking this waaaaay too seriously, and I don't want you getting yourself all worked up where you end up hurting yourself." He can't help but rub his own wrist, knowing exactly where stress had taken him too many times in the past.

"I have never not been able to build something before! ' .Work?" Hiro cried, collapsing into a chair. "I'm a complete failure!"

"You are not a failure!" Tadashi quickly reassures him-he never quite knows what to do whenever his brother gets like this, but he hates seeing him so unhappy. "Seriously, I think we're just dealing with powers outside of our control, and sometimes we just have to let things go when there's nothing more we can do about them," he continues consolingly. "You remember that bedtime prayer we always used to do-'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference'? As much as I know you're a total boss in the 'courage to change things' department, I think we're going to have to have the wisdom to go with that first part right now."

"But I can change this!" Hiro exclaimed. "This is science, and science is what I do best! How can I call myself a genius if I can't fix this?!"

"Hiro, we don't know that this is science," Tadashi reminds him calmly, trying to soothe away his little brother's passion by starting to play with his raven locks. "Honestly, this whole thing has seemed more like magic than anything from point one, and, honestly, neither of us know anything about that except for from all the times that we've had obsessively long Disney movie marathons."

"How could this be magical? I'm pretty sure magic is not real!" Hiro exclaimed, involuntarily relaxing slightly when he felt his brother comb through his hair.

"Well...considering some of the things I've been through recently, I'm beginning to rethink what we've always believed about magic," Tadashi says with a slight smile, continuing to gently massage Hiro's scalp.

"What things?" Hiro asked, feeling himself melt as Tadashi continued to massage him. That felt really good... but he needed to focus.

"Let's just say that I ran into an old friend of mine, and he's really into that sort of stuff," Tadashi answers with a chuckle. Honestly, his buddy Fred would be having an absolute field day with this if he knew about it—in fact, he'd probably be jealous that he wasn't the one who'd been genderbent! The fanboy would probably go off and find some mystical spirit to gender swap him, just so he could get in on the "fun"—

Suddenly an idea hits the elder Hamada and his eyes go wide. "Oh my gosh, Hiro, I know exactly who might know what's going on!" he cries.

"What? Who?" Hiro asked in confusion. "I thought that we'd already established the coffee shop woman didn't do this."

"Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure about that," Tadashi agrees, growing slightly excited as the idea continues to work its way through his head. "But there's a guy I go to college with-well, technically he's the school mascot and he actually goes to SF State, but that's a nuance—Anyways, he knows everything there is to know about this sort of thing. Seriously, he could write a book on all things superhero and supernatural, and if there's anyone who'd know what all could cause a genderbend like this, it's be him!"

"Well... I'm not sure where that will get us, but it can't hurt to try right?" Hiro says after giving the idea a moment's consideration.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, nodding his head firmly. "And the good news is, I know that he's going to a comic convention near here tomorrow and we could totally meet up with him there without having to worry about anyone recognizing me!"

"A comic convention?" Hiro asked, face scrunched up in disgust. "So I have to be surrounded by nerds all day?"

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad!" Tadashi responds, trying to sound convincing.

"Ugh..." Hiro makes a sound of disgust. Talk about boring! Maybe conventions were his brother's thing, but to him they were just a gathering of people who were slight off their rockers, enough so to be playing dress up well beyond the years when they should be allowed to do so. Wait a second… Actually, maybe he could take advantage of that and find a way to have a little fun at this nerd gathering after all! "All right, I'll go with you," he tells his older brother, grinning mischievously. "But only if you dress up!"

"Deal!" Tadashi answer is immediate—he didn't even have to think twice about it. He almost always cosplayed at conventions, so the fact that his little brother had just given him the go-ahead to do so just made things all the easier. But then his eyes go slightly wide as a thought hits him. "Whoa, wait a minute-there's a slight problem here," he tells his otouto in a worried voice. "In case you didn't notice, I'm sort of a girl right now, and I don't exactly happen to have any costumes meant for college-aged females lying around the house. Where am I supposed to get one on short notice?"

Hiro just smirked and replied, "You're going to have to figure that out on your own."

"Oh great..." Tadashi does a quick facepalm before looking back up at his little brother. "Well, it looks like we're either going to be raiding Aunt Cass' closet," he says, trying to sound far more chipper about this than he truly feels.

"Uh, that should be a ' _you'_ , not a 'we'," Hiro responds with a grin, internally laughing at the thought of his older brother wearing their aunt's clothes. "I know nothing about comics and anime, so it's up to you to find something that'll work."

"Right..." Tadashi shakes his head slightly. Of course his brother wasn't going to be of any help. Why had he ever thought otherwise? "Okay, you keep working on your ideas for how to change me back, and I'll go see what I can find," he tells his younger sibling, starting to head back towards the house. Now, more than ever, he seriously hoped that Hiro would find some scientific cure to the genderbend so that he wouldn't actually have to go through with this.

Once inside, he makes his way up through the house and to the second floor where his aunt's room is. Honestly, he'd hardly ever been inside it, so he's somewhat afraid to go in, as if afraid that somehow his aunt will materialize and demand to know what he's doing breaking into her private sanctum. But, taking a deep breath and forcing the image from his mind, he pushes the door open and tiptoes inside.

Honestly, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary-it was decorated in a nice traditional cherry blossom theme, with lots of pictures of him, Hiro, and, of course, Mochi hung on the walls. Still, he moves cautiously through the room, as if still afraid that someone might catch him. About halfway to the closet, a sort of "swishing" noise startles him and he almost jumps a full foot in the air. But then he feels something warm and fuzzy rubbing up against his ankles and he looks down with relief to find Mochi standing there, looking innocently up at him as if he hadn't just almost given him a heart attack.

"Hey boy." Tadashi kneels down next to the cat, reaching over to scratch the extremely furry feline under his chin. Honestly, he has no idea why the cat is being so friendly to him since he probably looks like a complete and total stranger but, seeing the slightly bemused look in the cat's eyes, he somehow gets the picture that Mochi does actually recognize him and is at least somewhat sympathetic to his plight. "Well buddy, think you can help me out with this one?" he asks, knowing that he should probably feel weird about talking to the cat but, after spending years living in the same house with him, he knows that the feline is actually pretty good with helping people out with their problems. "I'm supposed to find some sort of girly costume to wear to a convention tomorrow. Any idea where I can get one of those?"

Mochi blinks up at him with an expression that Tadashi swears is a grin and then, with a meow which obviously means, "Follow me", heads over to the closet, nudging the door open with his muzzle. The elder Hamada follows him inside and flips the lights on, and the cat wastes no time in heading directly to the back of the closet where he starts nosing at something hidden behind a curtain of clothes.

"What do you have there?" Tadashi asks, kneeling down on the floor to investigate. What he finds is a large cardboard box labeled "Cassidy Hamada Cosplays."

"Whoa!" The boy can't help but grin as he pulls the crate out into the middle of the closet and opens it up. So these were the infamous cosplays his aunt had worn back when she was in college and had been an avid convention goer herself! He'd heard stories about them from his dad, but no matter times he and Hiro had cajoled and pleaded with her to model one for them, she absolutely refused to even so much as show them a picture. He'd assumed that she'd thrown them out years ago, but apparently she'd still hung onto them. She'd probably never expected one of her nephews to resurrect them, but it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen.

"Thanks Mochi," he says, reaching down and scratching the cat behind the ears, eliciting a happy purr of contentment. "You're a lifesaver!"

Lifting the box up, he starts back out into the main part of the house and down the stairs to the garage. Mochi, apparently not wanting to miss the coming drama, follows along at his heels. Tadashi decides to let him come along-he could honestly use the moral support right now.

"All right!" the elder Hamada announces a minute later, using his foot to push the door to the garage open and looking around for Hiro. "I think I've got exactly what you're looking for, but you're going to have to help me go through all this stuff!"

While the older boy had been gone, Hiro had been angrily muttering to himself, tinkering with the remote but failing to find what had gone wrong and caused his niisan's hair to change like it did. What was he missing? Was his brother right and something supernatural was at work? Initially it had seemed ridiculous, but maybe there was something weird at play...

No, he would not push the blame for his mistake onto something else. He just needed to look for a new angle. When Tadashi entered the garage, though, he let out a sigh, deciding maybe it was a good idea to take a break. "What's that?" he asks, unable to withhold his curiousity.

"A box of Aunt Cass' old cosplays," the elder Hamada answers, setting the box down and opening the flaps. "Wow..." His eyes go wide as he gets his first glimpse of the contents and, almost reverently, starts lifting the articles of clothing which shine in a rainbow of colors and fabric types. This was a nerd's gold mine! Honestly, it would almost be worth it to stay a girl permanently just to be able to take advantage of all of this!

"I thought she threw these away," Hiro whispered, staring in shock at the outfits. He honestly couldn't picture his aunt wearing any of these things. He glanced over to gauge his elder sibling's reaction and was surprised to see just how excited he looked about all of this. "Uh, bro?" the younger boy says, wrinkling his brow in concern. "I think you're enjoying this a little too much..."

"No, no I'm not," Tadashi lies, trying to quickly hide his eagerness. It was probably best if Hiro didn't know just how much he was actually starting to look forward to this—the last thing he needs is for his bro to think that he's completely losing it. So that he can't see his facial expression, he quickly starts digging through the box and pairing up pieces to form the outfits from several famous anime characters. By the time that he's finished, there's a good five fully accessorized costumes, complete with wigs and footwear, lying on the floor of the garage. "Well, what do you think?" he asks, standing up and putting his hands on his hips as he surveys the choices. "Any of them look like something you can see me in?"

Hiro, who'd been stewing in the odd idea that maybe his brother could actually be a cross-dresser, burst out laughing when he saw the costume choices. "Oh man... you'd honestly look ridiculous in any of these!" he answers, glad that his previous suspicions were completely unfounded. There was no way that his niisan could ever put on women's clothes and have anyone take him seriously!

"Aw, c'mon, they're not that bad," Tadashi chuckles, playing along with Hiro's reaction. "Seriously, though, I want you to be the one to pick," he gently urges. "You're putting me up to this and you're going to have to take your own medicine, but I'll at least let you pick the one you'd be least embarrassed being seen with me in tomorrow."

Hiro, feeling somewhat annoyed at how his own joke was backfiring on him, rolled his eyes and finally grumbled, "Fine." After a quick survey, he picked up the costume with the least amount of bows and crazy colors. "Here, this one," he says. "It's the least girl—but even it is still too ridiculously girly..."

"Oh, perfect!" Tadashi's eyes light up as he takes in the Japanese school girl uniform and a mischievous grin crosses his face. "Since my hair's pink, I won't have to even wear the wig. But I have to say, I never thought you'd see me as a cat girl." He playfully nudges his brother and gestures to the partially hidden ears and tails that he's pretty sure Hiro missed in the first viewing.

"Cat ears?" Hiro groaned. "Suddenly this this is getting worse and worse..."

"Oh come on, tell me it's not adorable," Tadashi laughs, trying not to enjoy his brother's discomfort too much.

"No, you're my big brother you can never be 'adorable'," Hiro grumbled, glaring at his niisan.

Tadashi playfully sticks his tongue out at him. "Indulge me just this once. Seriously, I'm stuck as a girl-I might as well take advantage of it, right?"

"I think your brain is starting to work like a girls," Hiro informed him, feeling vaguely concerned. His niisan had never been this into this kind of thing before. "We really need to get you changed back, like, _now_."

"Okay little bro, you apparently haven't been paying attention if you didn't realize that I was majorly into cosplay while I was still a guy," Tadashi says with a slight smirk, brushing aside his otouto's worries. "Seriously, have you not seen me going to conventions before? I'm probably the most decked-out nerd to have hit the SF con circuit-well, after Fred, that. That guy is hard to beat-he's got his own Kaiju monster suit collection!"

"This is getting very weird..." Hiro mumbled, running his fingers through his hair and making it stick up even more than usual. "I'm starting to wish I was at school— _school_ , Tadashi! This is how weirded out I am!"

"You know that you're only encouraging me at this point, right?" Tadashi says with a slight snicker. "Seriously, if cosplaying can help me get you to go to school, I will do it every day until you graduate just to make sure that you to get your education!"

Hiro groaned and put his head in his hands. "Why me? Why did I have to get stuck with such a weird brother?"

"Hey..." Tadashi gives him his best hurt puppy look. "Now you're just being mean!"

"The truth hurts bro," Hiro replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"And you thought that I was being horrible about the whole actor thing," Tadashi pretend-pouts.

"Because that was just cruel," Hiro countered, also putting on a pout.

"So is this!" Tadashi points out, folding his arms over his chest and trying to look just as pitiful. Then, realizing just how ridiculous this is getting, he suddenly can't take it any longer and bursts out laughing.

Hiro tried to keep a straight face, but when his brother started laughing he couldn't do it and burst out laughing as well. When the younger Hamada starts in, the elder completely loses it, and he actually ends up collapsing on the floor he because he is laughing so hard. That in turn makes the younger laugh even harder, and soon the two of them are in a complete state of hysterics.

"Oh my gosh, we are such dorks!" Tadashi finally manages to get out after about a full five minutes of uncontrollable giggling.

"You started it!" Hiro gasped through his laughter. His sides ached, but he could care less. It had been _way_ too long since he'd laughed so much.

"Yeah, I did," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin, supporting himself on one elbow. As his laughter starts to die away, though, he goes slightly serious. "Look, Hiro, about all of this..." he finally says, sitting up and carefully tucking his legs underneath him since he is, after all, wearing a skirt, "I don't want to do anything that you're not okay with or that seriously weirds you out. So if you're honestly uncomfortable with me going to the convention in cosplay, I don't need to do it. I'd never want to do anything that would hurt our relationship, and I hope that you know that."

Hiro stared at his brother, surprised slightly by his words. Didn't his brother really want to go dressed up? On the one hand, a part of him was tempted to accept-the whole cosplay thing was a little weird to him. On the other hand, his niisan really wanted to do this, and how could he not let his brother do something that he really wanted to do?

"How about we see how it looks on you?" the younger boy compromised. "Then we'll decide."

"Deal," Tadashi agrees with a relieved smile, glad that his brother's willing to meet him halfway on this. "So, what, do you want me to go change now?"

"Might as well," Hiro replied shrugging. It was probably best to get this over with.

"Are you sure?" Tadashi asks, not wanting to appear too eager like before. "Because if you're not-"

"Just put on the costume nerd!" Hiro teased.

"All right then..." Tadashi gathers up the costume pieces and heads back into the house to change. To be honest, part of him ends up being glad that Hiro had chosen the simplest costume because it's difficult enough trying to just figure out how to get the school uniform on, let alone some super complicated and flowy gown. On the plus side, the tail just snaps into place and the ears are attached to a cleverly hidden headband so they slide on fairly easily, so that part's simple enough. And finally, because he's never one to go halfway on a costume, he finds some hair elastics in a drawer and ties his now long and extremely pink hair into two pigtails and fluffs them out as best he can to create the sort of volume seen on most anime girls. Taking a deep breath, he looks himself over in the mirror. Surprisingly enough, he's actually managed to pull it off fairly well. Of course, his biggest obstacle is getting his little brother to approve of it, so he heads back down to the garage. Just outside the door, he hesitates slightly. Honestly, he always feels a little bit nervous whenever showing anyone his latest cosplays, even someone who was used to them like Aunt Cass or Fred, and Hiro had apparently never even seen him in a guy's costume, let alone a girly one! How was he going to be able to live with himself if his otouto completely and utterly hated it? Well, there was only one way to find out, he finally realizes with a sigh and so, taking a deep breath, he pushes the door open and walks inside, nervously folding his hands behind his back as he presents himself for inspection. "W-well?" he asks nervously, feeling a slight blush creep into his cheeks. "What do you think?"

Hiro looked over the costume he was in. He tried not to, but he couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of his mouth. Seeing the look on his brothers face, he explained between laughs, "I-I'm sorry, i-it's just that…you're my brother—he he!—and you're wearing a _dress_! All I can think about is you as a guy wearing this and it's hilarious!" He doubled over with mirth at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Tadashi tries to weakly smile at his brother's reaction, completely understanding why hit otouto would think this was hilarious. He probably would have been cracking up all over the place had he been in his position. Still, he couldn't help feeling somewhat like a deflated balloon and his shoulders sag. _So much for this idea,_ he thinks grimly. It isn't so much that Hiro's laughing at the costume-it's more so that cosplaying is actually a fairly important part of his life, something that he really enjoys, but now he's afraid that he'll never be honestly able to share it with his younger sibling, who at this point probably just thinks of it as nothing more than some big joke.

Hiro noticed how his brother continued to deflate, so he quickly pulled himself together realizing he had to fix this and fast. He forced himself to see his niisan as a woman and not as a man. He could do this—if this was something his older sibling enjoyed, he was going to be as supportive of him as he could. "Listen bro, I... Okay, this is a little weird seeing you as a girl and judging an outfit for you as a girl but... ignoring the fact that you are my brother, you look really good in that." And it was true. Thanks to his brother's now pink hair, the outfit worked. He just needed to not think about the fact that a boy was wearing it. "And I'm being completely honest here," he adds when he sees that his niisan still didn't quite seem to believe him.

"Really?" Tadashi finally gives him a tiny smile. If his otouto thought that he actually looked okay in the costume (once getting past the whole brother-turned-into-a-girl thing), then maybe things really weren't so bad.

"Yea," Hiro reassured him. "I just need to get used to the idea that for now you are a girl and for some totally uncool reason you still are better looking than me."

"Oh my gosh, Hiro..." Tadashi feels his heart break just a tiny bit for his little brother. "Is that what all of this is about? Are the kids at school making fun of you because of how you look?"

"No... yes... maybe?" Hiro mumbled. "I don't know. Everyone sees me as an awkward kid and well... everyone thinks you look good and keep wondering when I'll grow into my looks like you did..."

Tadashi gives his otouto a half-smile and then opens his arms to him. "C'mere. I think you and I need to have a little talk, brother to brother."

Hiro rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be pulled into his brothers arms.

"First things first, I want you to know that no matter what anyone says, I think you look absolutely perfect," Tadashi says, softly stroking his younger sibling's hair (mainly just because he can.) "Maybe I'm just biased as your brother, but honestly, I can't see anything wrong with you. Secondly, as for 'growing into your looks', it may make you feel better to know that pretty much everyone in this family was a late bloomer-Grandpa, Dad, even Aunt Cass. I only hit my growth spurt in my Junior year of high school, and before that I was every bit as much a skinny twig as any other nerd in the school-possibly more so because I was tall for my age and didn't have anything to fill me out. And third, believe me, having girls after you isn't everything it's cracked up to be. If anything, it's about as uncomfortable as having that pizza delivery guy hit on me earlier tonight, only probably worse because you have to find a way to kindly turn down honestly nice girls that you're just not that interested in. But if you're still worried about it, I promise that soon enough I'm going to have to be using a stick to knock off all of the girls who are following you home-you may not have noticed, but even now, the times I've come to pick you up after school, I've seen more than a number of girls giving you second glances when you walk past." He pauses to let all of this settle in before asking, "So, do you feel any better now that we've had this talk?"

"Thanks, Dashi," Hiro mumbled, blushing like mad. "Honestly, I do feel a little better now."

"Good, because I don't ever want anything to be keeping my little bro down," Tadashi responds, grinning and hugging his younger sibling closer. "So if there's ever anything you need to talk about, you just let me know, okay?"

"Really? Anything?" Hiro asked, feeling that maybe he owed it to his niisan to tell him about the bot fights.

"Sure," Tadashi agrees, wondering what his little brother might have on his mind, only to be startled by the sudden sound of his cell phone ringing. Releasing his sibling, he scrambles around, trying to locate it, finally locating it lying on one of the work tables. Checking the caller ID, he sees that it's Aunt Cass, and, not wanting her to start worrying, he quickly picks up, putting it on speaker phone so that Hiro can hear the conversation too.

"Hey Aunt Cass!" he greets her with his usual cheerful enthusiasm. But he's completely unprepared for her response.

"Tadashi, is that you?" his aunt asks, sounding slightly caught off guard. "Your voice sounds funny. Is something wrong?"

The young man's jaw drops open. Stupid, how could he have forgotten that his voice had changed when he got turned into a girl?! "Help me!" he mouths to Hiro, looking desperately to his little brother for assistance.

"Aunt Cass! Tadashi is just working on his girl voice!" Hiro steps in, smoothly providing the perfect pretext for him. "Isn't it good? He's trying to get a lot of practice in, so he's going to keep talking like this ok?"

Tadashi seriously has to fight the urge to pummel his little brother, but, honestly, he's going to have to go with it.

"Really?" Aunt Cass actually doesn't sound terribly surprised, but then again, she's lived with them for the past ten years and she's heard weirder excuses before. At this point, she's usually just curiously amused. "Tadashi, what on Earth would possess you to-"

"It's for a cosplay, Aunt Cass," Tadashi answers, feeling extremely embarrassed but honestly not able to think of a better excuse off the top of his head.

"Wait, you're crossplaying?!"

"Um...yes?" Tadashi winces, waiting for her to tell him off or say something about him being a horrible role model. But instead she starts laughing.

"Oh my goodness, I remember the first time I did that! Your father was spitting mad about it, I can tell you that, but as long as you're just doing it in fun, I don't see why not. Hiro, you're going to have to take lots of pictures so I can see them when I get home!"

"I'll see what I can do," Hiro assured. "Isn't his voice really good?"

"It is-I could almost swear that he really was a girl!" Aunt Cass laughs.

"He's gotten good," Hiro agreed, smirking.

Tadashi shoots his brother a death glare, but tries to keep his voice cheerful as he asks, "So, um, Aunt Cass, how's the conference?"

"It's great!" his aunt answers. "You won't believe all the free food that they have here-it's sooo nice getting to eat something that I didn't have to prepare for once!"

"They're fattening you guys up for winter!" Hiro exclaimed, laughing.

"If they are, then they can keep on doing it because I am so not complaining!" Aunt Cass laughs. "But enough about me-how are you two doing? You haven't gotten yourselves into any major messes while I've been gone, have you?"

"Uh..." Tadashi looks over at Hiro, not sure how to answer that one.

"Nothing major," Hiro assured. "Just Tadashi and I enjoying spending time together. This nerd wants to take me to a convention tomorrow."

"Oh, how exciting!" Aunt Cass practically squeals. "Hiro, this is your first convention, isn't it? You're going to have so much fun!"

"I'm sure he will," Tadashi agrees, ruffling his brother's hair and grinning.

"We'll see, as long as this nerd doesn't get too nerdy on me," Hiro teased.

"Well, I can't guarantee that," Tadashi says with a slight smirk. "As Aunt Cass knows, I always cosplay in character."

"Oh man, I may catch the nerd!" Hiro teased, grinning like mad.

"One can only hope," Tadashi replies, glad that his otouto actually seems to be enjoying this.

"It's the only way to cosplay," Aunt Cass agrees, sounding like she entirely approves of the idea. "Well, it seems like the two of you are doing just fine, so I'll let you go for now. You have a good night's sleep, and have a fun time at the convention-well, not too much fun, but you know what I mean."

"Will do," Tadashi promises with a smile.

After Aunt Cass had hung up Hiro apologized, "Sorry I kind of panicked and couldn't think of anything else to say..."

"No, actually that worked out really well," Tadashi reassures him with a grin. "Nice save on your part!"

"Good," Hiro sighed in relief. "Glad I didn't completely mess that up. But it was pretty good." He pasted on a proud-looking smile and puffed out his chest.

"It was," Tadashi agrees, willing to let his little brother have his moment in the spot light. After all, what were big brothers for if not to help build the confidence of their younger siblings?

Hiro's grinned widened as he beamed up at Tadashi. He definitely was the coolest brother ever.

Tadashi smiles back down at Hiro, and then suddenly feels a yawn escape him. "Oh my gosh, how late is it?" He asks looking over at the wall clock.

Hiro glanced up the clock and said through a rather large yawn, "It's only two a.m—itz still early..."

"Oh my gosh, two a.m.?!" Tadashi cries. "Hiro, we need to get to bed pronto-the convention starts at 9 a.m. and we're going to have to get there at least an hour early if we don't want to wait in ridiculously long lines!"

"Ok, ok," the younger boy acquiesces. He was honestly used to staying up so late—most bot fights started late and didn't end until the wee hours of the morning—but it was probably best no to tell his niisan about that at the moment.

"Ready to head up?" Tadashi asks, putting an arm around his younger sibling's shoulders.

Hiro nodded his head and started up the stairs, followed closely by his brother.

Once in the room, Tadashi starts rummaging through his drawers, trying to find anything that would work for him to wear to bed. Fortunately, night time clothes are allowed to be fairly loose, so he finally settles on an old t shirt and a pair of pajama pants-honestly what he usually wore to be on a regular basis, anyways. Hurrying into the bathroom, he gets changed and then heads back out into the main room. Fortunately, some fore sight told him to tie his hair back into one elastic if he didn't want to deal with major bed head in the morning-as bad as the Hamadas had it on a regular basis, he didn't even want to think about what it would look like with hair that was a good foot and a half longer! "I will be sooo glad when we've finally figured out how to turn me back," he sighs as he collapses onto his own bed.

"Yea," Hiro agreed, getting into his own pajamas. "I really don't want to have to start calling you 'sis'."

"And I really don't want you to have to," Tadashi agrees with a slight laugh, reaching over to flip off his bedside lamp. "Good night, Hiro."


	12. Chapter 12

Tadashi awoke a little while later with the uncomfortable feeling that something wasn't quite right. He didn't exactly know what, but the idea kept gnawing at him, not allowing him to fall back asleep until he looked down and realized the assumed cause-somehow, while he'd slept, the genderbend had reversed itself because he was once again a guy. Letting out a relieved sigh, he leaned his head back against the headboard. He'd told Hiro that this would probably reverse on it's own, and now it had! Part of him wants to wake his little brother up to tell him the good news, but then he decides that it would probably be best to let the poor little guy have some sleep-after everything they'd just been through together, he deserved it. Content that all was right with the world, Tadashi laid his head back down on the pillows, looking forward to his own restful night of sleep-

"You really shouldn't have don't that."

Tadashi's eyes snap open as his brain registers the sound of a voice. Sitting up in bed, he looks around, his heart pounding slightly as he tries to figure out where the sound had come from. Was he imagining things, or had he actually just heard someone talking?

"H-hello?" he calls but, hating the fact that his tone was obviously frightened. "Who-who's there?"

"Someone you really should have thought twice about before crossing," the other snarls, sounding part angry and, oddly enough, part hurt.

"H-Hiro, is that you?" Tadashi tries again, desperately hoping that his little brother was playing some sort of prank on him.

"You don't have a right to say that name," the voice growls in reply, sounding even more incensed than before. "Not after what you did!"

"What are you talking about?" Tadashi asks, cold fear squeezing his chest.

"I'm talking about when you tried to destroy me—when you tried to take me away from my son!" came the venomous reply.

This response made absolutely no sense to Tadashi, so he tries again, "Who are you?"

"As if you didn't know."

"No, I really don't!"

There's a pause in which the other doesn't respond, and then Tadashi suddenly becomes aware of movement coming from Hiro's side of the room. At first he can't really see much of the shadowy figure, but then the stranger steps into the moonlight coming through the window and Tadashi gasps.

"Recognize me now?" the other asks grimly.

"This-this isn't possible," Tadashi stammers. "You're-you're me!" And it's true. What he's looking at is and almost perfect replica of himself. The hair was perhaps a bit longer, the body a tiny bit more muscular, a pair of glasses rest on the bridge of the nose, and there are definite signs of aging on the face and in the eyes. But there's no doubt that whatever or, rather, whoever, he's looking at is his veritable twin.

"I'm a part of you, yes," the other Tadashi agrees, bringing him back to the present. "Or at least I was a part of you."

"But—why? And how?" Tadashi cries, running his hands through his hair and feeling completely freaked out. "I mean, is this even possible?"

"Well, usually different aspects of a person's personality don't manifest themselves in a visual form," the other Tadashi replies, his eyes darkening slightly as he continues, "but considering the fact that you tried to destroy me earlier today, I think I'm well within my rights to do this."

"You keep saying that I tried to destroy you," Tadashi blanches, feeling slightly panicked by the amount of raw anger he can hear in the other's voice, "but I don't remember doing anything like that—oh. Oh no." His eyes go wide as memories of earlier that night come back to him. Suddenly he knows exactly who he's dealing with. "Oh no oh no oh no. Are you-?"

"Your Papadashi side?" the other replies with a mirthless smile. "Yes."

"Papadashi…?" Tadashi asks, raising a confused eyebrow but having a pretty good idea of what the apparent figment was talking about.

"Well, that's what Hiro used to call us when he was younger," the other Tadashi explains coldly. "I'm the side of you who sees Hiro as your son." He moves closer to the younger Hamada's bed and looks lovingly down at the sleeping form. "He's so beautiful," he murmurs softly, his expression changing as he reaches down and lovingly brushes a few strands of hair off of the boy's face. "I can't believe how fast he's growing up…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Tadashi cries, part of him worried about the idea this particular aspect of his personality being near his little brother, but the other part of him jealous of the intimacy the other was showing towards Hiro.

Other Tadashi, or "Papadashi" as he had identified himself, looks up, as if registering Tadashi's feelings, and smiles slightly. "Good," he says, his eyes flashing. "There's still hope for you if you're willing to fight for Hiro."

"Wait—hope for what?" Tadashi asks, wrinkling his brow in confusion and feeling slight frustration welling up in him. "Look, I'm sorry if you're upset about me trying to get rid of you, but I did it because it's best for Hiro. It's not safe for him to have me keep trying to be his dad!"

"Best for Hiro, or best for you?" Other Tadashi counters, giving him a scathing look.

"For Hiro!" Tadashi replies, although somehow his answer sounds weak even to him.

Other Tadashi looks at him as if disappointed. "I thought you were better than this," he says after a moment, shaking his head slightly. "I thought that you had enough sense to see the truth when it was right in front of you, but I guess I was wrong. So even though I didn't want to have to do this, it looks like you're not leaving me a choice."

"What are you saying?" Tadashi starts to feel afraid again, but then suddenly gets a boost of confidence as a thought hits him. "Wait, you're just a part of my subconscious—a figment of my imagination. I can get rid of you whenever I want." He smirks slightly. "Nice try, but you're not going to get me to change my mind that easily. I'm not going to put Hiro or myself through this again."

"Oh Tadashi." Instead of seeming to be even the tiniest bit intimidated, the other appeared to be slightly bemused. "That was your first mistake. You thought that you could just throw me away without any consequence? Well, you're dead wrong. Hiro's my son, and I will fight to the death for him if necessary. I know deep down you understand this and you feel the same way, but since you're being stubborn, I'm going to have to be creative with how I show you the truth. And while it's technically just for educational purposes, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm seriously going to enjoy it."

"What are you going to do?" Tadashi asks, his mouth going dry.

"You tried to take my son away from me, so I'm just returning the favor," alternate Dashi answers with a grim smile. "For one day, I'm taking control of the body—I'm going to have my day with Hiro, and hopefully after I'm done you'll finally get it through your thick skull just what Hiro means to us."

"And if I don't 'get it' by the end of the day?" Tadashi counters, trying to sound more confident than he feels.

"Well then, I'll just keep extending this out until you do," other Tadashi replies, giving him a mirthless look. He glances over at the clock on the wall before looking back and adding, "You know, it's not too late to change your mind. You could just let me back into your schema of how you view Hiro and we could dispense with all of this."

Tadashi battles momentarily with the concept—wouldn't it just be easier to start seeing Hiro at least partially as his son again? Would that really be so bad? But partly because of stubbornness and partly because, deep down, he really wanted to be proved wrong, he shakes his head. "Let's do this thing," he says, looking the other Tadashi directly in the eyes.

The older version of him has a funny smile on his face, as if he can see the latter part of his motivation and approves of it, before nodding and checking the wall clock again. "Let the clock state that it is 3:34 am," he announces in an official sounding voice which carries a great deal more power and authority than Tadashi would have ever pictured coming out of the other's or even his own mouth. "By the ancient laws, let the 24 hour period commence."

Tadashi feels a sort of warm sensation rushing over him, almost like being submerged by a crashing ocean wave. He closes his eyes against it, and then—

Tadashi blinks his eyes open, staring around the room in a state of shock and amazement, as if seeing it for the first time. Then he looks down at his hand and articulates each finger, as if testing out his own abilities.

"It-it worked!" he finally gets out after a moment. "It worked! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it, it actually worked!" Part of him wants to a victory dance right then and there, but he resists the urge since he needs to keep the volume down to keep from waking his musuko—oh, how amazing it was to be able to think that without being stifled! He whispers the name quietly aloud, just because he could—musuko. He can't help but smile like he'd just won a million dollars-which he sort of has, only the prize he had won was worth much more than anything money could ever buy. He'd been able to go part way before, back when he'd been a fully integrated if somewhat unwanted part of regular Tadashi's psyche, influencing decisions and occasionally overriding ideas about societal norms and codes of conduct to get Tadashi to be more loving and open towards his little brother. But now—now he had complete and total control for a whole day! Most people in his position wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Almost anyone who had found this sort of freedom after years of being ignored and stuffed away into a dark corner would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. But no—he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to take full advantage of this one day, and that meant spending each and every second with Hiro. First thing on his list was actually being able to hug his musuko fully and of his own free will. Being as quiet as he can, he makes his way out of the corner of the room that belonged to the owner of this body and heads over to Hiro's bed. When he gets there, for a moment he just stares down at the boy, unable to fully believe that this child was truly his. And then, holding back a tiny sob as the emotions overwhelm him, he sits down on the edge of the bed and gathers the still sleeping boy up into his arms.

"Oh, Hiro," he whispers, burying his face into the raven colored thatch of hair and nuzzling him close, "I'm here. Papa's here, and you're never going to lose me again."

Hiro wasn't quite sure if he was awake or asleep, voices filtered in and out of his brain that sounded strangely like Tadashi. Why was he arguing with himself though? It didn't make any sense. Hiro felt a pair of arms lift him up and cradle him against their chest and whisper, "I'm here. Papa's here, and you're never going to lose me again." confusing Hiro. Wasn't his father dead? And the voice sounded strangely like Tadashi, but Tadashi wasn't his father, and he was a girl... Hiro tried to wake up, but he was so comfortable. He needed to figure out what was going on though. Whoever was holding him nuzzled him and started rocking him slightly. Hiro slowly pried his eyes open and looked up at Tadashi who was somehow a boy again.

"Dashi... you're a guy again..." Hiro sleepily mumbled. "That's good..." Why was Tadashi acting like this though?

"Hey." Tadashi smiles down at him, tiny thrills going through his body-his first time actually getting to talk to Hiro! "I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to check on you. It's okay, you can go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Hiro sleepily frowned and mumbled, "Check on me?... is there somethin' wrong with me?" Hiro was so tired, Tadashi's rocking was so soothing and he felt himself drifting off again. But he needed to know what was going on. Hiro snuggled against Tadashi, eyes growing heavy.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you," Tadashi answers, gently soothing him back to sleep. "You're perfect-absolutely perfect."

"M'kay..." Hiro mumbled, still slightly confused but getting too tired to care. Hiro buried his head in Tadashi's chest and let his eyes drift shut. "Love you Dashi..."

Tadashi doesn't even try to hold back the tear that rolls down his cheek. Oh, how long he'd dreamed of hearing those words! "I-I love you too Hiro," he finally whispers, hugging the boy close. Hiro was his now, and he was never, ever going to let him go.

Hiro didn't remember falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes next he felt much more awake. He felt a pair of arms tightly holding him and looked up to see Tadashi who was still a boy holding him tightly. Good that wasn't a dream.

"Morning Tadashi," Hiro greeted, wondering how long Tadashi had stayed. "Did you stay here all night?"

"Mm-hm," Tadashi agrees, looking down at Hiro with a soft smile. He had actually been awake the whole night. He didn't want to waste a second of this, and honestly he really didn't need to sleep, even in this mortal body, so he'd just stayed there holding his musuko until the little boy was ready to wake up.

"You didn't have to do that..." Hiro mumbled, slightly confused as to what prompted his brother to do that.

"But I wanted to," Tadashi replies, gently stroking his son's hair. Oh, how amazing it was to be able to do that!

"Ok... did you sleep well?" Hiro asked, wondering what was up with Tadashi. "Any idea why you're a boy again?"

Tadashi decided to neglect to answer the first question, merely answering the second with, "I told you that genderbends usually work themselves out in their own time, didn't I? It just wore off during the night."

"I guess..." Hiro agreed, still weirded out by the whole situation, "You feeling ok bro? You're acting... different."

"I'm just happy to see you, bud," Tadashi answers, ruffling the boy's hair. He plans to tell Hiro the truth-but all in good time. For now, better not to let him get too suspicious. "So, do you want breakfast?" he asks with a bright smile. "I'll make anything you want."

Hiro's stomach growled and Hiro laughed, "Hmmm I think my stomach answered that for me. Pancakes sound good though."

"Then pancakes it is," Tadashi agrees, happily nodding his head and starting to get up. "Do you want to help me?"

"Sure," Hiro agreed standing up and following Tadashi down the stairs.

"Can you get out the bowls and mixing things while I get the ingredients?" Tadashi asks once they're in the kitchen, seriously looking forward to this first time getting to make breakfast with his son.

"Sure!" Hiro replied, trying to reach the cupboard with the bowls, only to find that he was, still, too short. Huffing in annoyance, Hiro jumped up onto the counter and started to reach up to grab the bowl only to slip and fall. "Ahhh!"

"Musuko!" The word bursts out of Tadashi's mouth before he can even think about it, but there's no time to take it back. Instead he rushes forward to catch Hiro,swooping him up protectively into his arms. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" How could he have been so careless? He should have known that Hiro was too short to reach the bowls! From now on he swears that he is going to do everything in his power to make sure that Hiro never gets put into a dangerous situation again.

Hiro blinked in surprise and whispered, "You called me Musuko..." Tadashi would never call him that... unless those times Hiro had been imagining it where real... Hiro's head hurt.

Well, this had come out sooner than Tadashi had hoped, but maybe now was as good a time as any to talk to Hiro. Still, though, wanting to push it out a little bit longer, he just answers, "Hiro, you just took a major fall! We should probably get you back up to bed until we're sure that you're okay!"

"Tadashi I'm fine!" Hiro snapped. "What was that musuko thing about?"

Part of Tadashi wishes that he hadn't spilled the news so early. Another part of him, however, was somewhat glad that he was finally going to be able to talk about this-the very thing that that other coward had been too afraid to ever talk about. "Let's sit down at the table," he finally says softly, moving to set Hiro down in one of the kitchen chairs.

Hiro looked at Tadashi in confusion, why was he carrying him like a baby? "OK what's going on?" Hiro asked, once Tadashi settled him in one of the chairs.

"Hiro..." Tadashi tries to think of how to best say this, also working to keep from letting his eagerness show. How could the original Tadashi have kept this all inside for so long? Either he was stronger than he'd looked or else he'd just enjoyed inflicting pain on himself-possibly both. "There's something I need to tell you," the current Tadashi says after taking a minute to choose his words. "And before you think that I'm just going off the deep end, I want you to know that I've been thinking about this for a very, very long time-almost since you've been born, in fact. For as long as I can remember, it's mainly just been you and me. Our parents...they were always gone, even when they were alive. And Aunt Cass, bless her, she tries, but-it's never been quite the same, you know? But me-I've always been the one to take care of you. To be there for you. To love you like you were my own. Do you...think you understand what I'm saying?"

"Wha-... I... so you see me as your son?" Hiro asked, feeling had never acted so fatherly before. Where is this coming from? A part of Hiro was happy Tadashi cared so much, another felt horrible for letting Tadashi take his fathers place, and another still wasn't sure how he felt about Tadashi not being his brother. He wanted Tadashi, not a new father.

"Is that really such a bad thing?" Tadashi asks, taking Hiro's hand in his own and searching his eyes. He'd thought the boy would be happier about this! "I think we've honestly both seen this coming-I guess this just seemed like the right time to finally tell you. I mean, when we both had that same dream a couple of nights ago..."

"How do you know about the dream?" Hiro asked, yanking his hand out of Tadashi's. He'd never told him or even hinted at the dream! What was going on?

"Hiro, the two of us were just barely managing to keep from saying anything about it that morning," Tadashi responds calmly. "It wasn't that difficult to figure it out-you know that I called you musuko that morning, and I heard you calling me papa too."

Everything about this felt _wrong_. The way he was acting and talking just didn't feel at all like Tadashi and it scared him. "No, no way. This... no... I don't know what's going on but... y-you are not acting like my brother." Hiro stammered standing up and backing away from him.

"Hiro, please, you have nothing to be scared of," Tadashi pleads. How was this going so wrong? "I'm just being honest with you-I love you! I thought that you loved me too."

"I don't know who you are but you're not my brother!" Hiro shouted. "I love Tadashi, bring him back!"

"Hiro, I swear to you that I am Tadashi," the older boy answers, getting up out of his chair but not following Hiro-he doesn't want to scare him.

"No...you're acting _nothing_ like my brother..." Hiro whispered, getting more terrified by the second. "Where is my brother?"

Tadsahi grimaces slightly. Apparently Hiro wasn't going to believe him-well, tough. He had told him the part of the truth that would be easy to hear-if he was going to be like this, he was going to get the full truth, like it or not. "I'm not lying to you-I am Tadashi," the elder finally answers, his voice going slightly cold. "I'm just not all of Tadashi."

"What do you mean not all?" Hiro asked, feeling sick. What had this monster done with his brother? "What did you do to Tadashi?" His body started trembling, horrible ideas flashing through his mind. He just wanted _his_ Dashi back.

"I'm the part of Tadashi that sees you as his son-the part of him that's been taking care of you since before you were even old enough to even say my name, the part that's cared for you and loved you through everything, the part whose stayed strong for you no matter how hard things got!" Tadashi replies folding his arms over his chest. "And as for what I did to him? Oh no, I didn't have to do anything. That coward turned tail and left. He _left_ you, Hiro! I tried to talk him out of it, but apparently he'd finally had enough. Just turned the controls over to me and that was it. For all I know, he's gone and he's never coming back." Tadashi gives the younger boy a grim smile. "You and I both know that he was having a hard time staying afloat-I guess he didn't want you to be left without anyone when he just couldn't handle things anymore."

"N-no..." Hiro whispered, eyes turning misty. "Y-y-you're lying! Tadashi wouldn't just leave me!" Hiro screamed, unable to stop the tears from falling. "I don't know who you are but let my brother go! Give. Him. Back!" This monster kept saying he loved Hiro, but Hiro could never love whatever it was that was using Tadashi's body. The twisted smile on his and the dark look in his eyes made Hiro want to run as far away as possible. But he couldn't. He had to save Dashi.

Tadashi begins to feel his resolve slip. This was all actually going fairly to plan-deep down inside he could feel the real Tadashi starting to wake up, definitely a good sign. But honestly, he hated to keep pushing Hiro like this. No, though-he'd have to keep going if this was all going to work out, both for Hiro and the real Tadashi's sake.

"Hiro, I know this is hard," he begins, stiffening his resolve and taking a few steps toward the boy, "but think about it. That Tadashi may be gone, but you still have me, and I'm much better than he could ever be! Hiro, I love you, and I would never, ever leave you! Just think of what we could do together-we could have a fresh start! We could go somewhere where it would just be the two of us, and we could have all the inventing workshops that you wanted. No more Tadashi being gone because of stupid things like school or responsibilities. No one would ever bother us again! Isn't that what you wanted?"

Hiro was immediately repulsed by the thought. What about Aunt Cass, what about _his_ Tadashi? "Not with you," Hiro growled, glaring daggers at the thing using his brother body. "I know Tadashi, _my_ Tadashi, would never leave me. He loves me and I-I love him more than anything and I won't give up on him, just like he never gave up on me. If you actually loved me, you'd let my brother go."

"I already told you, he's _gone_!" Tadashi shoots back angrily. "Get it through your head-he is gone, and he is never, ever coming back! Not unless he does something which I honestly doubt he'd ever do, and even if he did it, I don't know if you'd even want him back afterwards."

" _Shut up!_ " Hiro shouted. "Even if he ran away, which I don't believe for a _second_ , I'd still want him back! He's my brother and I love him more then anything in this entire universe! I won't let you take him away from me! Now Let. Him. _Go_! Or I'll make you!"

"Oh, he can come back as soon as he wants," Tadashi agrees with a twisted smile. "I'd even be willing to let him cut the 24 hour period we agreed to short if he fulfilled his end of the bargain-but first he has to actually be willing to do so, and I seriously doubt that he's ever going to be able to do it, which means that I'm in control indefinitely."

"Tadashi!" Hiro shouted, tears falling freely again. "If you can hear me come back! I need you! I don't want this creep, I want _my_ brother back! Please don't leave me!"

Way deep down inside, the actual Tadashi had been drifting in a sort of state of unconsciousness. It hadn't been unpleasant, but there was no sight, no sound, just...nothingness. Then, suddenly a voice broke through the darkness-Hiro's voice. At first he couldn't hear much, but he could tell that Hiro was upset. What had him so upset? And then actual words started to trickle down-"Tadashi wouldn't just leave me!" "He's my brother and I love him more then anything in this entire universe!" "Let him go!" There was a lot of another voice-his own voice, he realized, but not exactly his own voice. It was much darker, much colder.

"Papadashi," he realizes with a start. "Oh gosh, what have I done?" He feels an intense sense of panic. What exactly was Papadashi doing? At first he didn't think that he could do anything about it, though-he was stuck for the twenty four hour period. But then he head Hiro actually start crying and calling out for him, and suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. His little brother needed him! "What are you doing to Hiro?" Tadashi cries, hating that fact that he felt so powerless-down here, he was only a voice. He had no strength, no way to force his way out, but he was going to use his voice to it's fullest extent.

Suddenly, someone appears before him-Papadashi, he realizes, who's looking at him scornfully, his arms crossed over his chest. "I think the better question is, what did _you_ do to Hiro," he returns, a slight sneer in his voice-he seems so much darker than Tadashi remembers, even from the night before. "You left your own brother. _Tsk, tsk_. And here I thought that you were just terrible at being a father to him. It looks like you're just horrible in taking care of him period."

"You tricked me!" Tadashi shoots back angrily, wishing that he had some way to punch this self-righteous jerk.

"You made the decision, not me," Papadashi returns coldly.

" .go. He wants me, not you, you-you-" Tadashi has to bite back some very colorful language that he wants to use to describe this demon.

"Aw, still too sweet to even curse?" Papadashi gives him a falsely pitying look. "No wonder you're too weak to even take care of Hiro."

Tadashi felt cold fear surround him. This guy knew exactly how to push all of his buttons-how to flip every single one of his triggers and turn him into a tiny ball of insecurity. " _Baka_ ," he finally spits.

"Hm...weak, but at least it's something." Papadashi gives him a slightly amused look. "And hey, you're free to take back control whenever you want."

"I am?" Tadashi can't help but feel suspicious. It sounds too easy.

"Oh sure-as soon as you're willing to admit to the fact that Hiro's your son," the other returns with a twisted smile.

"But he's not!" Tadashi cries. Why did this guy keep insisting on that? It was true, he had felt fatherly feelings towards Hiro-if anything, now more than ever. There was nothing more that he wanted to do than to be able to wrap Hiro up in his arms and keep him safe from this jerk, just like his own father would have. But no, he fights the urge back down. He couldn't do that to Hiro! Or, if he was being honest, he could do it, but he was scared to death of what the boy would think. He could never accept him if he did that!

"Your loss," Papadashi returns with an indifferent shrug. "Say goodbye to your brother, then, because you're never going to see him again."

"No, wait!" Tadashi cries, but he's already gone. _Oh gosh, what have I done..._

"Well, I just spoke to your brother," Papadashi says, returning to the room with Hiro, a slight sneer on his face, "and it's just like I told you. He's too weak-he wouldn't even fight for you. He doesn't care about you, he only cares about himself. He knows exactly what he has to do to get back to you, but he won't do it. How can you still love him after that?"

"You're lying," Hiro hissed glaring daggers at the man. "Why are you trying to keep him away from me?" What did this thing want? Why was he insisting Tadashi didn't want him? A dark part of Hiro wondered if what it was saying was true but immediately pushed the thought out of his mind. No, if Tadashi didn't care he couldn't have talked to Hiro about cutting, couldn't have helped him meet Mrs. Matthews, wouldn't have cared so passionately whenever Hiro felt unworthy. Hiro could _see_ how deeply Tadashi loved him just by looking in his eyes whenever he was speaking to Hiro. He could read his brother like a book, he could tell when Tadashi didn't like someone but was putting on a smile just to be nice, and though there were times when Hiro couldn't fathom _why_ Tadashi so passionately loved him, Hiro knew he did and that's all that mattered. Even if he didn't really love Hiro, he couldn't just let this thing keep using his body without his consent. "Answer me know _or you will pay!_ "

Shoot, Hiro was getting serious! Papadashi silently curses himself for letting it get this far. If the real Tadashi didn't get moving soon, both of them were in serious trouble! The last thing that he wanted was for Tadashi to have to return to an injured body-he didn't know what consequences there would be for that, but it wouldn't be good. So Papadashi pulls out the last fail safe that he had-the one thing that he knew would get Tadashi to respond. With as twisted a smile as he could muster, he answers Hiro in a deadly calm voice, "You can do what you like to me, Hiro. But like it or not, at the end of the day, you are mine. You always have been, you always will be, and I one way or another I will have you."

Back down inside, Tadashi had been wrestling with himself. He couldn't believe what this demon was saying-trying to convince Hiro that he didn't love him when that couldn't be further from the truth! But his accusations-that Tadashi was a coward for not being willing to do the one thing that would bring the two of them back together-had sent him into a flurry of guilt and self-struggle.

 _I can't tell Hiro that I see him as my son!_

 **Well, that's the truth, isn't it?**

 _But Hiro obviously doesn't want me to be his dad! He's just made that very clear!_

 **Did he really?**

 _He hates this demon thing that's taken over me, the one that's claiming to be his dad, so yes!_

 **He hates it because it's not you. He wants his Dashi-all of you, his brother and his dad!**

 _But-I'm scared that I can't be all of that on my own._

 **No, you know you can do that. You're just scared of being rejected!**

 _Okay, I am! I'm scared of him rejecting me when he finds out the truth! Is that such a bad thing?_

 **Look at where you fear has put him and you, and you tell me! You don't have time to be scared anymore! Tadashi, it's time to man up if you don't want to lose him!**

Just as Tadashi's about to answer that, he suddenly hears Papadashi's voice saying very clearly, "Hiro, you are mine. You always have been, you always will be, and I one way or another I will have you."

.no. OH. HECK. NO! He had not just said that! There were few things that could trigger of such intense feelings in Tadashi, but this was probably the worst one-No one, absolutely _no one_ was allowed to lay any claim to Hiro but him! Hiro was his brother, he was his son, and anyone who tried to get in the way of that would have to face Tadashi's fierce and raging jealousy.

Okay, fine? Papadashi wanted a fight for Hiro? That's exactly what he was going to get! All previous fear and worry disappeared as Tadashi says the one word that he knew would end all of this: _"MUSUKO!"_

Yes! Papadashi's eyes flash with victory as he hears Tadashi's cry. Finally, they were almost there! Just a little bit further and they would be done with all of this! But first had to come what might be the most difficult part. Tadashi had admitted the truth to himself. But now he had to admit it to Hiro. Papadashi braces himself, knowing what's coming next-it isn't going to be pleasant, but he knows it has to be done. The splitting. He can feel it coming-the real Tadashi is gaining strength, is starting to regain control of the body. But Papadashi can't actually leave until his mission is complete, so he knows that any second now, he's going to be given the one thing he's always wanted but knows is also destined to be his downfall-his own form. With a great jerking pain, suddenly, he's ripped from Tadashi's body, and then there are not one, but two Tadashi's in the room, both on the floor, both gasping for breath, the one a bit older and with a pair of glasses on his nose, but both very much real and physically present.

 _Your move,_ Papadashi thinks with a grim smile as he looks over at his counterpart.

Hiro didn't think he could be any more terrified than when he'd thought his brother had been possessed by some demon, but he was wrong. He was now staring at two Tadashi's, uncertain as to which one was real, if this was really happening. A part of Hiro was wondering if he had lost his mind because this was insane! Hiro looked between the Tadashi's and noticed one looked older than the other. Determined, Hiro raced over to the younger looking one and collapsed next to him. Hiro started to reach out to him but froze. What if this was a trick?

"Dashi? Is that you?"

"Hiro, it's really me!" Tadashi cries, never having been so glad to be able to actually say his little brother's name before. He starts to reach out for him, but before he can, Papadashi somehow gets to his feet and effortlessly drags the younger boy across the room.

"Ah, ah, ah," he says, giving Tadashi a condescending look. "You didn't think you were getting off that easy did you?"

"Give me my brother back!" Tadashi cries, fighting down an anguished scream. Seriously, why couldn't this guy just leave well enough alone and let him have Hiro? He'd done what he wanted!

"Oh, your 'brother', is it?" Papadashi gives him another one of those smirks that wanted seriously made Tadashi want to slap him right across the face. "I guess you haven't learned your lesson yet, have you?" Despite Hiro's struggling, he's somehow managing to easily keep the boy pinned against the wall. He gives Tadashi a falsely pitying look. "If that's the case, then I guess the only thing I can do is hang on to Hiro for a little bit longer-"

That does it. Something snaps, and before he can even think about what he's doing, Tadashi lunges and manages to actually knock his doppelganger to the floor. "Hiro, get out of here!" he cries, not wanting his little brother to be caught in the crossfire as he struggles to keep the older version of himself down.

"I'm not leaving you along with that thing! Hiro shouted, not wanting to find his Tasdashi gone, not when there's something he can do.

Tadashi doesn't have time to fight with Hiro-he's having to fight hard enough to just keep this other thing from getting close to his otouto. Unfortunately, the alternate version of himself is stronger and seems to know exactly what he's going to do, so trying to keep him down is near impossible. But that doesn't mean that Tadashi isn't going to do his best-either he's going to save Hiro, or die trying (which he very well may end up doing the way things are going.)

"You can fight all you want," Papadashi hisses as he and Tadashi roll out towards the middle of the living room. "But you know that in the end, I will win this. You can try everything you want, but you know that you won't be able to defeat me. You'll never be able to stop me from making Hiro my son!"

"You can't have Hiro!" Tadashi yells, fresh anger rushing through him as he manages to get on top and struggles to keep Papadashi pinned to the floor. "He will never be your son!"

"And why not?" Papadashi sneers, his tone challenging as he glares up at the younger version of himself.

Tadashi feels his chest go cold and the old fears come clawing back in as he looks over at Hiro, who's watching them with large, scared eyes. No, he can't say it—he can't—

Then he looks down at his opponent and realizes that it's this very fear that's put Hiro in this danger in the first place. Suddenly, the tiny rebellious spark that had been flickering in his heart since earlier bursts into full flame and, with passion blazing in his eyes, he says with more confidence than he's ever had in his whole life, "Because he's my son. He always has been, he always will be, and I'm just sorry it took me this long to realize it." He smiles over at Hiro, not sure how the boy was taking this but honestly not caring—he'd finally done it. He'd said what was in his heart, and nothing had ever felt so good.

Hiro could hardly believe what he was hearing. Tadashi thought he was his son? A part of Hiro was thrilled at the thought, but another was terrified that he'd lose his big brother in all of this. Hiro knew Tadashi would want him to say _something_ in response to his declaration, but in the moment Hiro wasn't sure what he could say. So all he could say was, "I love you too Dashi."

Tadashi's about to reply, when suddenly Papadashi suddenly stops fighting him and, to Tadashi's utter amazement, actually smiles. "Well. You finally got it. It certainly took you long enough."

"Wha-what?" Tadashi stammers, confused. "But I thought you were—"

"That I was trying to take over permanently?" The other grins back at him. "No. Actually, I was just trying to get you to this point so that I could finally leave."

"L-leave?" Tadashi, in his shock, sits back on his heels, allowing his double to actually sit up. "Y-you're not making any sense!"

"It's simple, really." Papadashi looks between him and Hiro with a slightly sad smile. "My time here's up. I was only meant to be here for long enough to help you get through the rough early times—to be a source of strength for a little boy who had too much responsibility suddenly put on him by his parents' death. But I was never meant to be here forever. I was just meant to help you finally reach the point where you could do all of this on your own. And Tadashi, today you have more than proved that you are capable of loving Hiro as your brother and your son without me, and I couldn't be more proud."

"Wait, what do you mean? Where are you going?" Tadashi asks, scrambling to his feet as the doppelganger gets up.

"Like I said, it's time for me to finally take my leave," Papadashi replies with a half-smile. "I've long outstayed my welcome—I was never meant to be here for this long, and I'm more than ready to go to my eternal rest." He walks over to Hiro and gets down on one knee in front of him. "I'm sincerely sorry that I had to put you through everything I did today, but I want you to know that I never meant you any harm and that I was only trying to help the both of you. I meant everything I said about loving you, and even if it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for, I'm so grateful that I finally got to spend a day with you. I can't be with you anymore, but I-I'm going to really miss you." His voice cracks slightly as he says this, and he gives the boy a quick kiss on his forehead before getting to his feet and turning away to briefly wipe his eyes. After a moment, he turns back and offers both Tadashi and Hiro as bright a smile as he can manage, although it's obvious that it's somewhat forced. "It was an honor working with both of you. Please, keep taking care of each other, and never lose what the two of you have. It's truly precious."

Tadashi nods to the figure, unable to find the words to express what he's feeling. For so long, he realizes, he's relied on the spirit to help him get through the hardest moments, but now, as he looks over at Hiro, he's finally ready to do this on his own. Papadashi seems to understand this as he appears much more at peace, giving the two boys one last wave before a breeze suddenly blows through the room and the figure disappears in a cloud of cherry blossoms.

As much as Hiro knew Tadashi would want him to forgive the thing that tried to take over his brother he couldn't. Despite the fact that he knew that thing wasn't going to hurt them, the terror he'd felt when confronting that thing was so _real_ it continued to send shivers down his spine. Hiro only hoped that this thing wouldn't permanently alter his view of his brother.

"That was... terrifying..." Hiro whispered, shivering slightly. "But at least it's all over."

"Y-yeah," Tadashi agrees, shaking his head slightly. He looks over at Hiro. Honestly, as much as the whole encounter had shaken him, he was much more concerned with how it had left his little brother. "You doing okay?" he asks, afraid to reach out to him for fear of scaring him. The poor kid had been through enough, he didn't need to be traumatized further by Tadashi making sudden movements. Beyond that, Tadashi's honestly unsure of how Hiro's reacting to his confession. In the heat of the moment, it had been easy to say what was on his heart, but now... What if Hiro completely and utterly rejects him? He can't bear to think that he'd regained his otouto-his musuko-only to lose him all over again in a different but even more painful way.

"Why are you asking me that?" Hiro asked. "You where the one that was possessed!" As much as Hiro loved Tadashi, he could be an idiot sometimes. "I'm more worried about you."

"I just want to make sure that you're okay with-well, with everything that just happened," Tadashi replies, turning slightly red. "I-I'd never really planned on saying any of that stuff until I got pushed to my limits." Although, in reflection, he realizes that was probably the purpose of all of this-to get him to the point where he'd actually have to admit to his true feelings about Hiro.

Hiro ran a hand through his hair, thinking hard. He wasn't sure what he could say to his brother that wouldn't upset him. He just didn't know _how_ exactly he felt about this whole thing, it didn't bother him, that was for sure, he just didn't know where he felt in all of this. Did he see Tadashi as a father or was he just a really really good older brother?

"Honestly it's a lot to process..." Hiro finally admitted. "It doesn't bother me that you think of me like a son... I just... you're my brother... I just... ugg..."

"Hiro, you know that I'm always going to be your brother, right?" Tadashi answers, daring to reach out and take Hiro's hand in his. "It's just...I guess I couldn't help but starting to think of you like you were mine with everything we've been through. I tried to fight it for a really, really long time, but recently it's only seemed to make things worse between us whenever I freaked out over it. So...are you okay with me sort of being both-your brother and your dad?"

Hiro threw his arms around his brother and mumbled, "Of course I'm okay with it you nerd. What did you think I'd stop loving you or something? I just... you seem to really be my brother more than anything... is that... is that okay?"

"Hiro, of course that's okay! I want you to feel comfortable and safe whatever sort of relationship we have," Tadashi quickly responds, hugging Hiro tightly back and feeling extremely relieved. "Honestly, I don't really think it changes things what we call it-it's still the same sort of love, no matter what name we put on it."

"Good," Hiro sighed, hugging his brother back tightly. "Cuz I love you... even if you're a total nerd."

"And I love you, both as my otouto and my musuko," Tadashi responds, gripping him a little tighter. "Is-is it okay if I call you that sometimes? Not on a regular basis or when anyone else is around, but like when we're doing this?"

Hiro was silent for a minute before saying. "Y-yea... it's ok if you do..." Hiro only hoped Tadashi didn't expect Hiro to call him "dad".

"Thank you..." Tadashi whispers, feeling a wave of gratitude wash over him as he hugs his brother/son closer. He doesn't know exactly how comfortable Hiro is with all of this, but he's so grateful for the fact that the boy's willing to go along with it for his sake.

"I'd do anything for you Dashi..." Hiro whispered burying his head in his brothers chest. Though it made him a little uncomfortable, seeing how happy it made Tadashi was definitely worth it.

"You know that you're the only thing I could ever want out of life, right?" Tadashi says after a minute, tenderly stroking Hiro's hair. "Seriously, I could have absolutely nothing else, not a penny to my name, and as long as I had you I'd be the happiest person in the world."

Hiro felt his face turn bright red he mumbled, "You're such a dork..." Hiro was secretly pleased Tadashi held him in such high regard. Hiro squeezed his brother so he'd know Hiro was only joking.

"Yeah, but I'm your dork," Tadashi answers with a grin, giving his otouto a quick squeeze back. Then he frowns slightly as he suddenly hears a distant beeping noise. "Hey, do you hear that?" he asks.

"Yea I do..." Hiro mumbled, as the beeping continued to grow louder causing everything around him to grow fuzzy. "Huh? Tadashi wha-?" Everything faded away and he was left in darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

Hiro groaned, slowly prying his eyes open, glaring at Tadashi's alarm.

"Dashi, wake up, you're alarms goin' off..." he slurred, rolling over and trying to muffle the sound by burying his head in his pillow.

Tadashi's eyes snap open, the room around him slowly coming into focus. The dregs of a very, very vivid dream start to drain right out of his head, and try as he might to grab hold of them, before he even has a chance, they're gone. "Okay, okay, I'm getting it," he finally mumbles, letting the night's adventure go and stumbling over to turn off the alarm. He almost trips over something of Hiro's in the process, but instead of feeling upset, he just shakes his head and smiles slightly at his little brother's perpetual messiness. Honestly, somehow he could never be truly angry with his musuko, he was just too adorable...

Wait, musuko? Tadashi feels a slight pang of panic as he hears that word in his head again, but somehow, the fear is nowhere near as strong as it usually would be. He looks over at Hiro, who's still squirming on his bed, trying to get back to sleep after being awoken and looking so much like a little kid. Musuko... Tadashi tries the name out in his head again, and for some reason, this morning it feels...right. Like somehow, after all these years of fighting it, somehow overnight he'd come to terms with the idea. Was that crazy? Maybe. But it's true nonetheless. Of course, he'd never say anything to Hiro about this. Somehow, though, he now has that sense that maybe he could really do this-love the younger boy both as his brother and his son-and it was actually a very empowering feeling.

Glancing over at the window, he catches sight of his reflection in the glass, and with a slight start he realizes that he's a girl again. Well, of course he was-had he honestly thought that he'd magically change back during the night? He shakes his head at his own wishful thinking. And the fact that he was still a girl meant just one thing-today they were heading to the comic convention and, hopefully, going to go find a cure for this whole genderbend mess.

"C'mon, wake up sleepyhead," Tadashi says, heading over to his otouto's bed and gently shaking him by the shoulder. "It's time to get up!"

"Uggg.." Hiro groaned, putting the pillow on top of his head, "Go away...sleep..." Why was his brother waking him up? It was Saturday, and Saturdays were for sleep! He would not be moving, thank you very much.

"Come on," Tadashi laughs, shaking his brother a little harder. "We have to get going if we want to get started on getting me turned back into a guy, remember?"

"Ugg..." Hiro groaned, unsure as to why he had thought his brother was back as a guy again. "Fine..."

"Good." Tadashi nods, fairly satisfied that Hiro's going to actually get up. "I'll be downstairs making breakfast, some come meet me when you're awake enough not to be stumbling around all over the place, okay?"

Hiro slowly dragged himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he did so, he felt himself slowly waking up. Once he was finished, he got dressed and made his way downstairs and was met with the smell of a delicious breakfast being cooked.

"Smells good!" he says, taking a seat at the table and feeling his mouth begin to water with with anticipation.

"Well, it's a convention day, so we're going to need lots of energy," Tadashi responds from where he's busy cooking waffles and bacon. He gestures to where he's put out a couple of cans of sodas on the table. "You may want to get started on one of those, we're going to need to be as caffeinated as possible for all of this!"

"Okay," Hiro agreed, taking a can and starting to down the contents. "So, do you have our badges, or will we have to wait in line to get them?" he asks after a minute of companionable silence.

"We'll have to pick them up at the door," Tadashi answers, starting to dish out the food. "And hey, since when did you know anything about conventions? I thought that you said they were for nerds!" he adds teasingly, turning to look at his little brother.

"They are," Hiro assured. "That, bro, is literally the only thing I know about conventions."

"Sure, I completely believe you..." Tadashi replies with a wry smile, moving the plates over to the table.

"I'm actually dead serious here," Hiro replied, which was true. He'd once overheard some guys in his class complaining about the whole badge thing.

"Okay, I really do believe you then," Tadashi says, ruffling his otouto's hair. "Now, get eating that. We don't have too much time before we need to get heading out!" He sits down across from him and, after pausing to say grace (throwing in a quick prayer that today would be the day he was finally free of this infernal genderbend) he quickly starts downing his own breakfast.

Hiro smirked slightly as he watched his brother practically inhale his food. Man, the guy was excited for this! He himself ate at a leisurely pace, something which he could tell was driving his niisan insane.

Tadashi does feel slightly agitated that Hiro's taking his time, but honestly, he's more concerned with the fact that he's only got a few minutes to finish eating and then go get into cosplay. As soon as he's finished with breakfast, he dumps the plate into the dishwasher and tells his little brother, "Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes-I've got to go get changed, but as soon as I'm ready we have to get going, okay?"

Hiro smirked slightly as Tadashi frantically ran off, amused by his brother's exuberance. He decided that maybe he should give his niisan a break instead of purposefully trying to annoy him and so quickly finishes his own meal.

A few minutes later, Tadashi returns in full cosplay regalia. "Ehn, maybe this isn't such a good idea..." he sighs as he reenters the kitchen, fidgeting nervously with the tie on the shirt. He always gets cold feet right before heading out to a convention, and while he knows that he'd hate himself later if he didn't go dressed up, he can't help but feel slightly insecure about this.

"You put on the outfit and have been planning this for days. If you back out you will beat yourself up, so let's go!" Hiro answered, not wanting to let his brother to over think this whole thing and end up being miserable later because he'd chickened out of doing something he really wanted to do.

"You're right," Tadashi agrees with a smile after he has a moment for the words to set in. "I can totally do this!" He pulls his otouto into a quick hug. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Hiro rolled his eyes and hugged his brother back, "You're being such a nerd! Now come on, let's go or we'll be late to your nerd convention and I just know you will _never_ let me live if down if that happens."

"Very true!" Tadashi agrees with a slight laugh, grabbing his bag from by the door and honestly feeling much more excited now that he knew his little brother was going to be with him every step of the way. "Alright, you ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be," Hiro deadpans before asking, "So, how are we going to get there? I mean, will you be able to use your scooter?"

"Um... probably not since I'm wearing a skirt," Tadashi answers with a wry smile. "Usually I just use the streetcars if I'm in costume like this-there's one that goes right by the convention center, and it usually gets a lot of convention traffic on these weekends, so we won't even stand out that much."

"Alright," Hiro agreed, shrugging. "You know more about these things then I do."

"Apparently," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin, waving for his brother to follow him. "Come on, if we hurry we'll probably be able to catch the next one!"

"All right, all right, cool it! It's not a race, y'know."

"Hey, if I can move fast in cat ears and a skirt, surely you can keep up," Tadashi teases.

"Haha, very funny." Hiro mocked. "Let's just get going."

"Right!" Tadashi laughs and leads him outside, making sure to lock the door behind them. Then he raises a fist and, turning towards the street, cries in a dramatic voice, "ONWARD-TO ADVENTURE!"

Hiro turned bright red and buried his face in his hands as his niisan charged off. A part of him wanted to turn around and hide from his brother's silliness, but another knew he'd feel guilty for ditching his sibling. So, groaning, he raced off after Tadashi, shouting, "Stop being such a nerd!"

Tadashi bursts out laughing and slows slightly, but not by much. "Come on, get in the spirit of things! This is supposed to be fun!" he calls back.

"You're such a weirdo!" Hiro laughed catching up to his brother. He then jumped up and wrapped his arms around his brother neck, laughing, "Fun!"

"See, there ya go!" Tadashi chuckles and willingly wraps his arms around his little brother so that the younger can ride more comfortably on his back. Maybe some people would think that they were too old for this, but as far as he was concerned they were never too old to enjoy brotherly bonding time.

Hiro laughed as his niisan continued to carry him to the tram, actually enjoying himself. He'd missed these crazy stunts they used to pull. People stared as they raced past, but he couldn't care less. None of them mattered as long as he had his brother with him.

Tadashi loves that he can actually hear Hiro laughing-seriously, his little brother needs more chances to be happy and just enjoy being a kid for as long as possible. Soon they reach the corner where the streetcar is supposed to be arriving, but, since it isn't there yet, he continues to let his otouto ride on his back for the moment. "Good view from up there?" he asks with a slight grin.

Grinning, Hiro calmly informed him, "Yea, the weather is so much different from way up here! I mean, I feel a little light headed from lack of oxygen..."

"Oh come on, I'm not _that_ tall!" Tadashi laughs. "But if you're feeling light headed, then I can bring you back down…"

"No, no, it's ok, I need to prepare to handle the height when I finally shoot up!" Hiro declared, laughing.

"See, there you go!" Tadashi says, nodding his head in approval. "You keep thinking like that, and it's bound to happen soon." Suddenly, though, picturing his otouto all grown up and even at his own height, he feels a slight pang in his heart. Gosh, Hiro was getting really grown up... Suddenly, unable to stop himself, he pulls the younger boy off of his shoulders and scoops him up into his arms, cuddling him close. It's a little bit rough on him, since he's not quite as well built for holding his little brother as a girl as he was as a guy, but that doesn't matter-he's going to get this moment in, whether his body's protesting or not.

"What are you doing?!" Hiro shouted, face turning bright red. "Is this one of you mood swings?"

"No," Tadashi replies, nuzzling his face into his brother's hair. "I was just thinking about how grown up you're getting... You're not my little guy anymore..." Laughing slightly, he shakes his head as he feels tears starting to prick his eyes. "Okay, you're right, maybe I am having a mood swing!"

"Hey that's still a ways away," Hiro assured, not liking how upset his niisan was sounding.

"I just don't want to ever think of you growing up and leaving me," Tadashi admits with a sad smile.

"Hey, we're going to stick together forever, remember?" Hiro teased gently, trying to pull his brother out of his funk. "Hamada Bro's Inc. ring a bell?"

"I know... But sometimes I just worry that something might happen that's going to separate us," Tadashi responds, holding his little brother a little closer.

"Well, I won't let that happen!" Hiro declared as a tram rolled up.

"I'll hold you to that," Tadashi says with a slight smile as he sets his little brother down. Together the two of them board the streetcar and they manage to actually find seats near the middle of the cab. The older boy's pleased to see that there's a large number of obvious convention goers already on board, including quite a few in cosplays, so he doesn't feel quite so conspicuous. A minute or so after they've sat down and the vehicle's started to move, he notices a girl who had been standing a little ways from them while they were waiting for the tram making her way through the bus. Her eyes light up when she spots the two and she hurries over.

"Um, hi!" she greets them, her voice squeaking slightly with excitement. "I saw what you two were doing back there on the corner and, oh my gosh, you were just seriously adorable! Is there any chance I could take a picture of you?"

Tadashi honestly isn't that surprised by the request-he was fairly used to both having his picture taken at conventions and also requesting pictures of others. Part of him's embarrassed that someone had actually been watching the whole exchange between him and his little brother, but on the other hand, if it had made someone's day a little better, he wouldn't complain. "Well, I don't see why not," he agrees after a moment, giving the eager fangirl a friendly smile before turning to look at Hiro. "What do you say, _otouto_? Are you okay with having your picture taken?"

"Ummm... ok?" Hiro said, slightly confused as to why anyone would want _his_ photo. It's not like he was in cosplay.

The girl eagerly pulls out her phone and snaps a picture. "Eeee, thanks!" she squeals once she's made sure that it had come out clearly. "You guys have got to be the cutest Nyami and Niko pair that I have ever seen! Hopefully I'll see you again later on at the convention!" She gives them a quick wave before scampering off to talk to another cosplayer further back in the bus.

"Wait what?" Hiro asked, watching as the girl ran off. "Nyami and Niko? What is she talking about?"

Tadashi himself blanks for a moment, but then he face palms as he realizes what the girl was referring to. "Oh no..."

"What's up?" Hiro asked, worried something was horribly wrong.

"U-um, there might be a slight problem," Tadashi admits, blushing slightly. How could he have forgotten about this?! "I don't suppose that you're familiar with _Neko No Mondai_ , the anime that this costume is from?"

"No, I'm not a total nerd like you," Hiro teased, not sure where his brother was trying to go with all of this.

"Okay, well, it's a slice of life comedy about a sibling pair," Tadashi explains nervously, ignoring the "nerd" comment. "The older sister, Nyami, is a neco girl, and her little brother, Niko, is a normal kid who's always having to put up with all of his sister's craziness and help her get out of trouble. It's really adorable and they have a great sibling relationship, just like us. But, I hadn't even realized this until that girl pointed it out-you look an awful lot like Niko, right down to the messy hair, hoodie and cargo shorts. _Pleasedon'thateme,Iswearthiswasn'tpurposeful_!" He cringes slightly, waiting for his little brother's response

" _Are you kidding me?_ " Hiro exclaimed, enraged. "I…you… _seriously?!_ "

"I'm sooo sorry, I didn't even think about it when you picked out the costume last night!" Tadashi starts apologizing profusely. "I would have totally gone as someone else if I'd remembered!"

Hiro glared at his niisan and grumbled, "Yea right... this was your plan all along, wasn't it, nerd?"

"Hey, you were the one who picked out the cosplay, not me!" Tadashi shoots back. "I had nothing to do with the choosing process, you did that all on your own!"

"Yea, well, all the others were covered in pink sparkles and bows and looked ridiculous! You knew I'd choose the least sparkly one! Hence _you_ planned this all along!"

"Hey, technically you were the one who said that you'd only come to the convention if I was in costume, and you weren't willing to help me with finding anything, so I had to go with whatever was available, which happened to be the box of cosplays in Aunt Cass' closet...which I was lead to by Mochi." Tadashi face palms again as the realization hit him. "Oh my gosh, we got set up by a cat!"

Hiro glared at his niisan and snapped, "Nice try, but do you really expect me to believe a cat made you find the box?"

"He did!" Tadashi answers. "I swear, I'm being honest! I didn't even know that Aunt Cass still had that box until he led me to it! I thought she'd burned it!"

"Right, of course. How convenient."

"Well you thought it was gone too! And besides, I'm telling you, that cat is a conniving little troublemaker!" Tadashi insists. "You remember that one time we were trying to get him to go outside in the rain because he was tearing up the house and instead he managed to lock us both out for two hours until Aunt Cass got home? He does stuff like this! Add on top of that the fact that he's still probably mad at us for the whole rocket boot incident and that he's seen more anime in his lifetime than the two of us combined thanks to Aunt Cass, I think I have a fairly logical case!"

"Ok I'll admit the whole thing with the rain was weird, but that's not enough to prove he did this on purpose!" Hiro exclaimed. "These mood swings are getting crazy!" His brother was acting far more paranoid than usual.

"Sorry..." Tadashi sighs, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, I'll back down. Just-please, tell me what I have to do to get you not to be mad at me anymore?"

High sighed, feeling guilty and mumbled, "I'm not mad, ok? Just... frustrated, I guess..."

"Look, if it makes you feel better, we could just head back home-I don't want you to have to go through something that you're not comfortable with," Tadashi tells him, honestly worried for his brother's emotional well-being.

"No, no it's ok..." Hiro assured. "It's just a little weird."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, niisan will be right here to help you through it and beat off any over-eager fangirls," Tadashi promises, wrapping his brother into a quick hug.

Hiro grinned and rolled his eyes saying, "Bro, your nerd is showing..."

"Yeah, but I'm your nerd," Tadashi replies with a happy grin, resting his chin on the top of his otouto's head.

Hiro rolled his eyes again, a wide grin on his face. Then he froze as he saw several people on the tram with their phones pointed towards them. "Uhhh, Dashi...?"

"Oh...shoot." Tadashi stiffens as he too sees the phones and, worse, the fact that pretty much the entire streetcar was watching them.

"Don't stop!" someone calls from somewhere near the back, and others take up the rallying cry.

"Um, Hiro," Tadashi says, realizing that they're going to have keep going if they don't want to be mobbed by angry nerds, "what happens in the next few minutes must never be spoken of outside of this tram, understood?"

Hiro froze and slowly lifted his niisan's arm from around him and whispered, " _We shall never speak of this again!_ " Face turning bright red.

Oh gosh, this was going to be sooooooo seriously embarrassing-but it was either humiliation or death by mob, so Tadashi chose the lesser of two evils. Taking a deep breath and simultaneously burying every shred of dignity in his body, he drops to the floor, rolls over on his back, and, ignoring the shocked look from his little brother, puts his hands in the air curled up like two paws. " _Nyan?"_

Instantly the whole car bursts into excited applause and cheers.

Hiro glared at his niisan in disbelief and hissed, "Would you stop encouraging them?"

"Do you want to get killed?" Tadashi shoots back quietly while continuing on with the cat antics as best he can. "Trust me, I have seen mobs get ugly, and it never ends well! Now are you going to help me or am I going to have to do all of this on my own?"

"I would rather die by mob then of embarrassment! Now _stop!_ " Hiro hissed.

Tadashi finally swings himself back up onto the bench seat, but only because the tram is coming to a stop. "San Fransokyo Convention Center!" the driver calls as he pulls up to the curb. "Everyone off for the San Fransokyo Convention Center!"

There's a slight stampede for the door and the older boy presses himself flat against the chair to keep from getting trampled. On the way out, though, more fans than he can count stop briefly to shake hands with or, more commonly, hug him and his brother.

"Well, consider that your full-immersion introduction to nerd culture," he says with a slight laugh after most of the other passengers are gone and he starts getting up to head towards the front of the cab.

"...I think I've made a huge mistake..." Hiro whispered as he followed the older boy off of the tram.

"Too late to go back now," Tadashi says with a wry grin as they step off and the streetcar pulls away. He lovingly ruffles his little brother's hair. "Just stick with me and you should be fine."

"I'm going to die," Hiro declared as they got in line. "I am going to be killed by a bunch of rabid fans and no one will know what happened to me!"

"That is a possibility," Tadashi agrees with a slightly amused snort. "But...hopefully that won't happen. Honestly, I'm slightly more worried about myself." He shivers slightly. "I mean, fangirls can be annoying and slightly rabid, but fanguys-well, depending on the one, they can tend to be a little bit more forceful, if you know what I mean."

"What do you mean forceful?" Hiro asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Um-y'know what, nevermind." Tadashi turns slightly red and tries to act like nothing was the matter. It was probably best that his brother not know what he meant. "It shouldn't be an issue-after all, mainly we're just here to talk to Fred and then we can get right back out."

"What shouldn't be an issue?" Hiro asked.

As if in answer the question question, Tadashi suddenly gets the uncomfortable feeling that he's being watched. He tries to ignore it, but it becomes a little bit harder when he feels someone slip their hand around his waist and say in his ear, "Well, hel~lo kitty."

The young man instantly tries to jerk away, but the person who has him is strong-much stronger than he would be even if he'd been a guy. He finds himself being spun around and coming face to face with some sleezy looking guy who's a good head taller than himself and obviously visited the gym often.

"P-please, let me go," Tadashi says, his face turning bright red and suddenly finding it very hard to move as intense fear sets in. Oh gosh no. No no no. This was like his worst nightmare come true-only it wasn't a nightmare this time, it was real, and he would not be waking up from it.

"What's your hurry, kitty cat?" the guy chuckles, pulling Tadashi a little closer. "What's a nice girl like you doing all alone at a convention like this? You should have an escort, and I'd be more than happy to provide that service now and, well, maybe for a little bit afterwards, if you know what I mean."

Tadashi knows that he should probably be screaming or calling for help, but all that comes out is a tiny whimper. _Oh Heavenly Father, help!_

"Hey!" Hiro shouted when he saw how terrified his brother was. "H- she said to let her go! Now leave my br-sister alone!" He kicked himself for nearly slipping up twice but held his ground. There was no way he'd let this creep mess with his brother!

"Beat it, twerp," the guy says, sneering down at the younger boy. "We're trying to have an adult conversation here, so get lost!"

Hiro's eyes flashed dangerously as he growled, "That's _my_ sister you're messing with so Get. Your. Hands. _OFF HER!_ "

"Or what?" the guy smirks. "You're going to cute me to death?"

"Last chance," Hiro growled. "Or you will regret it."

"Hiro, no!" Tadahi says, fearing for his little brother's safety, but the guy holding him just laughs.

"I'd like to see you try and actually stop me," he chuckles darkly, disregarding the younger boy's threats. Reaching down, he takes Tadashi's chin in his hand and tilts the traumatized college student's face upwards. "You ever been kissed before, kitty?" he asks, leaning in as Tadashi lets out a terrified squeak.

Hiro let out a roar, seeing red and threw himself at the creep, throwing him off balance and causing him to loosen his grip around Tadashi.

"You bastard!" Hiro shouted punching the guy in the face. "You sick, twisted piece of shit!" He punched the guy again, enraged. "I'll make you pay!"

"What the hell?!" the guy went down hard, and Tadashi took advantage of the momentary distraction to escape. But he only got a few steps away before his niisan instincts kick in and he turns back around.

" _HIRO_!" he shouts. Even if his little brother had managed to momentarily take the guy down, he knew that the boy didn't stand much of a chance once the initial shock wore off. He starts to run back to help his little brother, but then he's stopped by firm but gentle hands.

"Let me go!" Tadashi cries, trying to get free.

"No, it's okay! We're here to help!" He turns to find the girl who had taken his and Hiro's picture on the streetcar standing there.

"What-?" he starts to ask, only to see two older guys who had also been on the tram running past and then helping his otouto, who was actually holding his own fairly well, pin the creep to the ground.

A pair of arms wrap around Hiro and lift him off the jerk, another set grabbing the guy and hauling the creep to his feet.

"You're disgusting!" the man holding the jerk spat, glaring daggers at him.

"I could have taken him!" Hiro snapped at the man who was firmly holding onto his arm, which in turn caused the stranger to laugh.

"Sure you could," he responds, his expression serious but a hint of amusement in his voice. "But if you did, you'd end up looking like the bad guy and getting thrown out, and that's not what you want, is it?"

"…No," Hiro admits begrudgingly.

"Aurebesh, Ace, I've got the police on speed dial-should I call them?" the girl, who still has her arm wrapped protectively around Tadashi, calls to the two guys.

"Why don't you ask her?" the guy holding the creep said, gesturing to Tadashi. "But I'd say yes."

The one holding onto Hiro walked over to Tadashi and the girl, firmly holding onto the younger boy's arm to prevent him from going back and trying to finish the job on the jerk. Still, the stranger sounds impressed as he tells him, "That took guts kid. Your sister is lucky to have a brother like you."

The girl looks to Tadashi, who is still too much in shock to give much more than a tiny nod. Taking that as a yes, she pulls out her phone and hits "dial". "Hello, yes, this is Crystal Pride," she says into the receiver as an operator on the other end answers, letting go of Tadashi's arm and turning away slightly so she can talk without upsetting him any further. "I'd like to report an attempted assault-"

Tadashi, finally free from her grasp, suddenly finds that he doesn't have the strength to stand and almost collapses to the ground as the reality of what had almost just happened hits him.

Hiro, seeing how shaky his brother was, finally managed to pull his arm out of the man's grip and wrapped his arms around his niisan, saying, "You ok, Dashi?" He couldn't help but feel guilty for all of this happening-he was the one who picked the stupid outfit. He could have told him not to wear it but hadn't. He could have asked his brother to let them go home, but he didn't. What if his stupidity led to Tadashi cutting again? He was probably the worst brother in the history of the universe! "I'm so sorry..." he whispers, feeling an overwhelming amount of responsibility for what had just happened.

Tadashi wanted to tell him that it was okay, that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't get any words out. Instead, he just wraps his arms tightly around his little brother and starts sobbing uncontrollably.

"You-you were so brave," he finally manages to get out, clinging to his otouto like he was his only lifeline. "You-you saved me, Hiro."

Hiro tightened his grip around his brother and mumbled, "Well... you always do the same for me... it's the least I can do for you, nii-chan..."

"I-I was so scared," Tadashi almost whispers. "I didn't think I was going to be able to get away. I thought that he-that he-" He can't go any further, instead burying his head into his otouto's shoulder as the memory of the terrifyingly helpless feeling washes over him again.

Hiro was so busy trying to comfort his brother that he failed to notice the other convention goers pointing their phones at them. Ace, however, did and growled, "Hey, come on, leave them alone! This lady just got attacked! Back off!" He stepped in front of the pair, partly blocking people's view. By now convention security had shown up to take away the creep, and so the other two who had been involved in Tadashi's rescue follow suit, blocking the siblings entirely from view. This caused quite a bit of grumbling from the crowd, but the trio firmly held their ground.

"Do you want to go home?" Hiro whispered gently.

Tadashi almost wants to say yes, but then he shakes his head. "N-no... I mean, as much as I just want to hide in our room for the rest of my life and never come out, we still need to talk to Fred so we can see if he has any ideas of how to reverse-well, you know."

"If you don't feel comfortable, we can try talking to Fred another day," Hiro assured. "Your health is way more important than getting you back to normal."

"Honestly, I'll feel a lot better when I'm a guy again and I won't have to be near so worried about creeps like that," Tadashi answers quietly with a feeble smile.

"You and me both," Hiro agreed with a weak laugh.

"The only problem is, I'm not sure that I'm going to be brave enough to go into the convention now that I've gone through what I just did," Tadashi admits with a slight sigh.

"Actually, we may be able to help with that." Tadashi's head jerks up and he gapes open-mouthed as he realizes that the girl, Crystal, was looking back at the two of them with a slightly amused smile.

"Huh?" Hiro asked, looking between his niisan and Crystal in confusion.

"We could follow you guys for the rest of the convention," one of the men said.

"We don- I mean we wouldn't want to impose..." Hiro lamely began.

"It's not a problem," the other guy reassured him. "We'd be honored to do it. So, what do you say?"

Tadashi glances over at Hiro, not sure as to how his little brother felt about this, but honestly knowing that he'd feel a lot safer with three other people being a part of the group.

Hiro wasn't sure how he felt about having three strangers follow him around all day, but he could tell from the look on his niisan's face that it would make him feel better, so he said, "It's ok with me as long as she's ok with it."

Tadashi nods. "That-that would be great," he finally gets out, actually managing a genuine smile.

"Yay!" Crystal squealed linking arms with Tadashi. "Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

Hiro groaned slightly at this and slowly trudged behind the pair, already starting to regret this decision.

"Oh, cheer up, this will be fun!" one of the two boys exclaimed, slapping Hiro so hard on the back that he actually stumbled forward slightly.

"Right...fun..." the younger boy grumbled.

Tadashi couldn't help but grin slightly now that it had been decided that they would all go together. Honestly, conventions were always better when spent in a group. Realizing that he hadn't properly introduced himself yet, he says, "I'm Tadashi, by the way-Tadashi Hamada. And this is my little brother, Hiro."

"Well, it's nice to meet you both," Crystal answers, giving his arm a friendly squeeze. "I'm Crystal Pride, and these are my brothers, Aurebesh and Ace."

"Hey." Aurebesh gives a friendly nod.

"'Sup?" Ace waves one-handed.

"Hi..." Hiro awkwardly says. Now that he knew their names, he realized that Aurebesh had been the one to pull him off of the creep, and Ace was the one who actually held onto the jerk. "Do you guys come to these things often?" he asks curiously, hoping to learn more about their new companions.

"Well, Crystal and I do," Aurebesh agrees good-naturedly. "Ace isn't much of a convention goer, but he's actually here for the robot exhibition that they're including this year."

"Wait, there's a robot exhibition?" Hiro exclaimed, eyes lighting up with excitement. "Oh my gosh, Tadashi, we have to go!"

The elder boy considers this. Technically, the real goal of today was to find Fred so they could figure out how to fix the whole genderbend. But, especially since Hiro was being forced to go to the convention in the first place, he knew that it was only fair that his little bro be allowed to do something which he found fun. Tadashi himself would have been more than eager to go if his concerns weren't elsewhere. "Tell you what," he says after a minute. "How about, once we're inside and I've gotten ahold of Fred, you go to that with these guys while I go talk with him, and then I'll meet you back there when I'm finished?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, throwing his fists in the air. "This will be awesome!"

"Glad you think so," Tadashi says with a slight smile. "So, maybe going to a 'nerd convention' isn't as bad as you thought it was going to be?"

Hiro glared at his brother and declared, "The robots will be the only interesting thing at this Nerd Convention!"

"Oh, I think you'll find there's more fun to conventions than just robots," Aurebesh says, ruffling the younger boy's hair good naturedly.

"And if you don't, we will force you to binge watch every famous anime ever made until your brain melts," Crystal adds, giving him a falsely serious look.

"I'd much rather spend the time building robots!" Hiro declared. "Besides, my brain is much cooler not melted."

"Sorry, she gets a little...intense," Ace apologized, giving his younger companion a protective pat on the shoulder. "But don't worry, you'll be safe. The worst she'll do is try to snuggle you to death."

"Speaking of which..." Crystal gives the younger boy an excited look. "Seriously, I cannot get over how adorable you are! Can I hug you? Pleeeease?"

"Whoa, Crystal, settle down," Aurebesh chuckles. "Don't scare off our new friends before they even get a chance to know us!"

Crystal gives a fake pout, but does what her brother asks, only to grin and glomp onto Tadashi.

"A little?" Hiro asked, eyeing her warily.

"Yea, only a little," Ace assured, grinning as he watches his sister and Tadashi.

"Right..." Hiro nervously agreed, wondering if joining these guys was a mistake. They all seemed way more into this then he ever would be.

"Just stay with me and you'll be safe," Ace promises. "Trust me, I'm a nerd, but I'm not _that_ sort of nerd."

Tadashi, for his part, was enjoying the tiny glomp-fest. As a major hugger at heart, he'd always sort of envied the fact that girls could get away with snuggling and otherwise expressing affection in public while guys usually got weirded out looks. It was nice finally getting to know what it felt like on the flip side of things, and the sisterly vibes that Crystal was sending his way were very reassuring after going through a rather traumatic experience.

"Okay, so, what do you guys want to do first?" the other girl asks, literally bouncing with excitement when she finally let go.

"Well, first things first, it sounds like Tadashi has someone that he needs to meet," Aurebesh reminds her gently as they move forward in the line.

"Yeah, I need to find a friend of mine," Tadashi explains, readjusting the cat ears which had gotten knocked slightly askew during the extended hug. "I need his help with-well, with something sort of important."

"Say no more." Aurebesh reassures him with a firm nod. "We'll help out in whatever way we can."

"So...what kind of robotics are you into?" Hiro asked Ace, hoping to hit on a conversation topic that he'd actually be able to contribute something to.

"Well, I'm actually really interested in using robotics to enhance virtual reality experiences," Ace explains with an eager smile. "Like, building tech to allow people to not only be able to see the virtual world, but maybe to even touch, smell, maybe even taste it!"

"Sweet," Hiro said, feeling slightly impressed. "Do you want to use it to enhance video gaming experience or something else?"

"Well, my major focus right now is gaming, but I'm open to applying it any field where it could be useful," Ace answers with a slight grin.

"I'm more into augmented reality myself," Aurebesh puts in. "I love the idea of merging reality with fantasy using electronics."

"Wow." Tadashi looks at the two of them, feeling awestruck. "That's pretty amazing!"

"That does sound pretty cool!" Hiro agreed. "I'm mostly into regular robot building, but all of that sounds very interesting!"

"I'm over at SFIT, and I'm planning on doing my research project on using robotics in the medical field," Tadashi volunteers, glad to find a point of common interest.

"Well, as usual it looks like I'm the only one who wants to be a librarian," Crystal says with fake annoyance, although it's obvious that she's starting to feel out of place amongst all the technological geniuses.

"Well, as much as we'd love to see you as an engineer, you know that we want you to be happy doing what you're best at," Aurebesh says, giving her an affectionate side-hug. "Seriously, you don't have to do what both of your older bros are doing-you're free to follow your own path."

"And don't you forget it," Crystal agrees, looking somewhat relieved and happily nuzzling into the older boy's shoulder.

Tadashi smiles watching the two of them. Honestly, it reminds him a lot of himself and Hiro, and he can't help but ponder Aurebesh's comment about not having to follow the path of your older siblings. He can obviously see that trio all love each other, even though they're evidently very different people with vastly varying interests, and they support each other's ambitions, even if it isn't what they personally would have picked for their siblings. He glances over at his own _otouto_ , beginning to question if his own internal dogma that Hiro needed to go to college and follow the path that mentally he'd laid out for him might not actually be the most constructive thing in the world. Was it possible that maybe he was pushing a little too hard?

As if reading his thoughts, Ace turns to Hiro with a friendly grin. "So, with your interest in robotics, can we expect to see you at SFIT when you graduate?" he asks.

Hiro shifted uncomfortably, hating how conversations always led to what college he wanted to go to and what career he planned to pursue. Even if he _wanted_ to go to college he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. He was fourteen years old! Why did everyone want him to already know exactly what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing? He was just a kid! Couldn't he _stay_ a kid until he was eighteen? Knowing Aurebesh would want an answer, though, he awkwardly informed them, "I don't know... maybe? Honestly, I just... college just doesn't seem like it's for me. I'm not even sure what I want to do with myself."

"Hey, it's perfectly fine not to know what you want to do with your life right now," Crystal puts in firmly. "Heck, I changed my minds more times than I can count during high school, and even a couple of times while in college." She folds her arms over her chest in annoyance. "Honestly, there's something seriously wrong with this whole system of trying to force kids to figure out their whole lives so early on-you need to enjoy being young while you can! I mean, as much as I appreciated my mom keeping me on course so that I could get a good scholarship to SF State and everything, between her and my teachers I was waaaaay more stressed about the whole thing than I should have been and it did not put me in a good place. You should be enjoying hanging out with your friends and reading comics and doing the stuff that you love, not freaking your head off about schools. As much of a perfectionist as I am about my grades, believe me, the good memories that you make now will be much more important later on than the hours that you spent studying."

Hiro couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face, grateful someone finally wasn't trying to shove the whole college things down his throat.

"I'll keep that in mind," he assured her.

"You'd better," Crystal says, giving him a teasing wink. Then she turns to Tadashi and says with a bright smile, "I'm sure that's exactly what you've been telling him, right?"

"Um, right..." the young man mumbles, turning slightly red and feeling slightly guilty for all the times he had not so subtly tried to prompt his otouto into looking at going to SFIT after graduation.

"Well, I think the important thing is balance," Aurebesh puts in gently. "It's good to plan for the future, but it's also important not to let the present pass you by. As our mom always puts it, 'Everything in moderation.'"

This makes Tadashi feel somewhat better, and Aurebesh's siblings both nod, obviously letting their elder brother's word be the final word on the matter.

"Oh, looks like we're next," Ace says, motioning to the tables ahead and alerting the rest of them to the fact that they were almost at the pickup point for their badges.

Hiro awkwardly shuffled forward with his brother next to him. His niisan produced his driver's license and he pulled out his own school I.D. The employee then scanned both and then said, "Alright guys, just step over to that table and your badges will be printed out shortly!"

Tadashi nods his thanks to the attendant and gently guides his otouto over to the correct table. "Come on, this is gonna be fun, I promise," he says softly, noticing the slightly uncomfortable look on his little bro's face. As they wait for the badges, he adds, "And... for the record, I'm sorry if I've been putting too much pressure on you about college stuff. I hope that you know that I'm just trying to look out for you, but ultimately what's most important to me is that you're happy. You've already got enough stress on you, and I don't need to be adding to that. So right here and now, I'm giving you full and total permission to tell me to back off if I get a little too overbearing, okay?"

"Thanks, Dashi..." Hiro mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed but also somewhat grateful—he knew it couldn't be easy for his brother to say that, and he appreciated his willingness to do so. Still, he doesn't want things to become too sappy right here in the middle of the convention, and so it's with great relief that he notices their badges being placed on the table. Taking advantage of the distraction, he grabbed his and passed his brother's to him, saying, "So, uh, do you see the others?"

"They're probably going to be a little bit while they're waiting for their badges," Tadashi explains with a slight smile, relieved that his otouto seemed to be accepting his apology and making himself a mental promise that he would try to be better about not putting too much pressure on his little bro. Then he reaches into his bag and pulls out his phone. "I'm guessing this is probably as good a time as any for me to text Fred and get the ball rolling."

Hiro nodded his head, scanning the crowd to see if he could actually recognize any of the cosplays being worn. To his surprise, he found that it was a pretty even spread of people in cosplay and people dressed in every day clothes, so he felt less like a sore thumb. Not surprisingly, he didn't see anyone in cosplays that he could recognize.

For his part, since his brother's attention apparently satiated with people watching for the moment, Tadashi unlocks his phone and sends Fred a text-a text which he seriously hopes he won't later regret.

 _Fred, it's Tadashi. SF Comicpalooza, want to meet up. Extremely urgent! C u outside the Megazon Comics booth? ~Dashi_

A few minutes later, his phone "dings" as a reply.

 _Yo, Dashi! Love to meet up_! _I've got early access and I'm already at the booth. C u in a few?_

Tadashi lets out a slight snort. Of course Fred was already inside-the fanboy wouldn't want to miss a second of what was pretty much heaven on earth for a nerd.

 _Sounds good,_ he quickly types, and then, after a moment of wrestling with himself, he adds, _Look for the cat girl with pink hair in a school girl uniform._

The reply is almost instant:

 _XD ? Dude, are you crossplaying?!_

Tadashi can't help but groan slightly, wondering if he should try to explain the whole mess over text. But, realizing that it would take far too long to type, he merely answers:

 _Long story. I'll explain when I c u._

Fred's response was almost as quick as the last one:

 _Can't wait to hear it! XD Fred out!_

"Well, at least that's settled," Tadashi says with a slight sigh as he puts his phone back into his bag.

"Figured out where Fred is?" Hiro asked, spotting the other three walking towards them, badges in hand.

"Yeah, he's at the Megazon Comics' booth," the older Hamada answers. "Now, if I can just figure out where exactly that is-"

"On it!" Crystal pipes up, already flipping through her pamphlet. Tadashi flinches slightly-seriously, did that girl have super hearing or something? After another moment, she announces with a grin, "Okay, it looks like it's actually pretty close to robotics expo! How awesome is that?"

"Looks like we need to head in...that direction," Aurebesh confirms, looking over her shoulder at the map and then pointing in the general direction that they needed to go.

"Sweet!" Hiro exclaimed, following the group and they heading in the correct direction along with at least half the con goers. The group walked down a long hallway for several minutes, all excitedly chatting about the different things they wanted to see. Hiro was only really concerned about the robotics show along with Ace, but the other three seemed excited about the con in general. Once they entered the main room, the youngest member of the group couldn't help but gasp, "Wow!" when he saw what was inside.

"I know, right?" Tadashi can't help but grin at his little brother's reaction. Honestly, no matter how anti-nerd a person was, their first time seeing a real convention was always an unforgettable experience.

Hiro could hardly take it all in, the room was filled with hundreds of booths, several of which were at least ten feet tall. He excitedly looked for the Robotics Center, gasping when he got a glimpse of it through the crowd. He was only able to get a small glimpse of some of the robotics being shown, but it looked sick!

"Let's get going!" he cries excitedly.

"Absolutely," Ace agrees, looking pretty eager himself to go check it out.

"You going to be okay going to find your friend on your own?" Aurebesh asks Tadashi, looking over at him.

"I will be more than happy to go with you if you need an escort," Crystal volunteers, giving him a look that clearly said, "Save me from these robotics nerds!"

Flashing her an apologetic smile, Tadashi shakes his head. "Actually, it's probably be best if I do this on my own," he answers.

"Okay, well, if you need us, here's my cell phone number," Aurebesh tells him, scribbling it down on a scrap of paper that he'd fished out of his bag and handing it over to the other boy. "Call us if you run into any trouble, or whenever you're ready to meet back up."

"Will do," Tadashi promises, carefully tucking the paper into his bag. Turning to his otouto, he lovingly ruffles his little brother's hair. "Have fun, but not too much fun, okay?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, jumping up in excitement, his worries about Ace, Aurebesh and Crystal being with him melting away. This was going to be awesome! He started weaving through the crowd, Crystal and her brothers struggling to keep up.

"Slow down, man!" Ace shouted, laughter in his voice.

"You guys should be able to keep up!" Hiro tosses back, laughing. He was positive that this would be awesome! But once he finally reached where the robotics where, he felt himself instantly deflate. The robots before him where pathetic. Aurebesh and Ace, though, seemed awestruck by the display.

"Aren't these cool?" Ace exclaimed, punching Hiro's shoulder.

"Yea... amazing..." Hiro deadpanned. He and Tadashi had been buiding much cooler things when they were toddlers!

"Something wrong?" Ace asked, noticing Hiro's disappointment.

"I...I was expecting... more..." Hiro admitted.

"You don't think this is cool?" Aurebesh questioned, surprised.

"My brother and I have built stuff way cooler in our garage..." Hiro sighed, looking around the hall and feeling depressed. Was there anywhere he could go that would actually interest him?

"Oh please!" One of the men showing their robot scoffed. "You're just a kid! There is no way you could build any of this!"

Hiro smirked and asked, "Wanna bet?"

The man looking at him burst out laughing and declared with a twisted smile, "You're on! Build something awesome in one hour, if you're so confident!"

"Wow, wow hold up! There is no way-" Ace began, but Hiro cut him off.

"What stuff can I use?"

"Anything from my booth," the man answered, gesturing to the materials and bots on the table.

Hiro grinned and said, "Alright, let's do this!"

Grinning, Hiro ran over to the booth and started grabbing parts and tools, pulling plans for a bot from his head. The idea he had was to make something about 6 or 7 feet tall that could swing swords and breathe fire. It wasn't as cool as what he and Tadashi could normally pull off, but it was much better than the bots that where being shown off currently. Crystal, Aurebesh, Ace and the man were all watching him with a mixture of fascination and mockery. Soon, though, he would have a bot that would knock everyone's socks off.

"Want some he-" Ace began to offer at one point, but the man instantly cut him off.

"No! He's got to do it all by himself!"

"That's ridiculous!" Crystal exclaimed

"It's okay guys, I've got this," Hiro assured them. "But thanks for the offer." He'd show them all that he was the King of Robotics!

He worked quickly, knowing that he could easily finish this within the hour but really wanting to blow these nerds away. He would make them see how smart he really was! And no one could possibly deny that he'd built this, not with so many people watching him build it!

Hiro continued to diligently work, ignoring the man's taunts, knowing that the jerk was just trying to distract him so he'd mess up.

"Ha, there's no way a stupid kid like you could actually build a bot!" the man calls at one point.

"Oh, so is that why you challenged him—because you're too scared to challenge someone you actually think will win?" Ace snapped, which caused Hiro to smirk slightly. That man was such a coward.

Thirty minutes after beginning, the young man put down his wrench and said, "Well what do you think?"

Ace, Aurebesh, Crystal, and the man just stared in shock at the robot in silence for several minutes.

"Well?" Hiro prompted again, his smirk growing.

"I bet that thing doesn't work!" the man shouted, snapping out of his shock.

Still smirking, the younger boy picked up the remote and started the bot up. "Think again!" he declared, causing the robot to walk towards the man menacingly. People who were exploring the robotics show started screaming at the sight of the bot and running out of the area.

"Oh, come on!" Hiro groaned. "It's not even doing anything!" But no one listened, too panicked to hear what he was saying.

 _Okay…_ he thinks to himself, his heart sinking slightly. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.


	14. Chapter 14

_Meanwhile…_

Tadashi manages to find his way over to the Megazon Comics booth with fairly little trouble-all he had to do was follow the stream of excited fans. Once there, he's definitely glad that he'd agreed to meet Fred outside the booth since the line to get in is, quite frankly, atrocious. Even though the convention had just opened, he knew that most fans would have made a beeline for it as soon as the gates had opened and that the line would only get even longer as the con progressed. The one downside to all of this was that he figured Fred would have a hard time finding him in the midst of all of these people. Reaching into his bag, he prepares grab his phone and send his friend another text when suddenly he feels a pair of padded arms encircling him from behind. Still on edge from the earlier encounter, instinct kicks in and he rams one elbow sharply into the perpetrator. This startles the person enough to loosen their grip, and Tadashi spins around with eyes blazing, preparing to drop kick the second jerk who had dared to lay a hand on him that day. Seriously, he's so over guys thinking that they could do whatever they wanted with him just because he happened to be a girl! But before he can, the guy in the suit quickly throws his hands up in the air in surrender.

"Dude, sorry, I totally thought you were someone else!" a familiar voice apologizes as the figure starts to quickly back away.

"Wait, Fred?" Tadashi gasps, feeling relief flood through him.

"Tadashi?" The other person answers, sounding slightly shocked, and then reaches up to pull the head off of the kaiju suit to reveal SFIT's mascot and resident fanboy.

"Oh my gosh, you have no idea how relieved I am to see you!" Tadashi cries, hurrying over to hug his friend. Honestly, he sort of needs some sort of physical reassurance after that scare.

"I'm glad to see you too, amigo," Fred returns, returning the hug with his usual enthusiasm. In the process, he accidentally lifts the other boy right off of the ground. "Whoa, am I imagining things, or did you get a lot lighter?" he asks as he sets him back down.

"Um...possibly," Tadashi admits, feeling his face go slightly red as he tucks a strand of pink hair back behind his ear.

Fred, fortunately, doesn't choose to follow that train of thought, instead looking the other boy over with a mixture of shock and awe. "Wow, I can't believe that you of all people would actually end up crossplaying!" he finally says, laughing and shaking his head slightly. "I mean, dude, you look awesome and it's totally believable! I just never pictured you-"

"Yeah, same here," Tadashi responds quickly, trying to cut his friend's ramble short before it turned into the lengthy rumination which the nerd was famous for and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "But, well..." He starts to stumble over his words, but then takes a deep breath, deciding to just plunge right into things instead of dragging it out. _Just like ripping off a bandage_ , he mentally coaches himself before squeezing his eyes shut and blurting, "I'm not sure this quite counts as a crossplay since this is sort of my current gender."

Even though the convention was ablaze with sounds and voices, he could have sworn that the silence was deafening as Fred stares at him without saying anything for a full thirty seconds-about the longest he'd ever seen the fanboy go without speaking unless his mouth was full of food in the entire time that he'd known him.

Finally the other man seems to regain control of his faculties. All he manages to get out, though, is, "Wait-what?"

"Y-yeah..." Tadashi says, blushing slightly as his friend stares him down. "I-I kinda…got genderswapped."

He expects his friend to be vaguely freaked out by the news, or even to accuse him of trying to pull some elaborate prank. But, to his utter amazement, Fred suddenly breaks into a huge grin and cries, "DUDE! THIS IS EPIC!"

"Hey, keep your voice down!" Tadashi shushes him, flinching as several curious onlookers glance in their direction.

"Sorry!" Fred replies in an only slightly quieter voice, obviously overflowing with excitement. "I just can't believe it! I thought you guys said that this sort of stuff wasn't 'real science'." He puts air quotes around the words "real science", a phrase that had been used more times than either of them could count by people in the lab when they had to tell the fanboy that one of his slightly harebrained (although, Tadashi had to admit, usually awesome) ideas just wasn't possible.

"It isn't real science," Tadashi tells his friend, part of him hating to let his companion down and part of him knowing that he needed the other boy to actually be on the level at the moment, not completely geeking out. "Or, at least, I don't think it is."

Fred cocks his head like a curious puppy. "How so?" he asks, his eyes sparking with curiosity.

"It just sort of...happened," Tadashi admits. "Honey Lemon and I were just out getting coffee when we got hit by this wind and-"

"WHOA, hold on a second!" Fred puts up a hand to stop him. "You. Took Honey Lemon out. For coffee?"

"Yes," Tadashi agrees, blushing slightly.

"YOU. TOOK HONEY LEMON OUT. FOR COFFEE?!" Fred repeats, his eyes wide as if he can't quite believe it.

"Yes!" Tadashi answers, blushing even more.

"YOU TOOK HONEY LEMON OUT-" Fred starts again, but Tadashi cuts him off.

"Enough! Yes, I did, but that isn't important!" he cries, growing slightly exasperated. "What's important is-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Fred waves a warning finger at him. "You're not getting out of this that easily! So, you mean you took Honey Lemon out for coffee, or you _took_ her out for coffee?"

"Fred, is this really necessary?" Tadashi groans, feeling his cheeks flaming with embarrassment.

"Yes it is!" Fred replies, nodding his head in an authoritative manner. "Every detail is important when trying to figure these things out! Now, do you want my help in getting the genderbend fixed or not?"

"Wait, how'd you know that I was going to ask you-" Tadashi starts, his eyes widening, but this time Fred cuts him off.

"Simple. Why else would you track me down in the middle of a convention dressed in a girly cosplay after sending me a text that said this was urgent?" the fanboy returns with a knowing smile, folding his arms over his chest.

Dang, sometimes Fred was too observant for his own good. "All right, yes, I need your help," Tadashi finally admits with a slight sigh.

"Excellent!" The fanboy's smile is back full force. "I'm more than happy to help! But..."

"But?" Tadashi doesn't like the sound of that.

"You're going to have to tell me absolutely everything that happened," Fred responds, enjoying this far too much for Tadashi's liking. Still, since this seemed like his only option...

"All right, fine," the gender-swapped boy replies, his head dropping in defeat. "I'll tell you everything."

"Great!" Fred rubs his hands together eagerly. "Then let's begin!"

"Okay, so yes, I did take Honey Lemon out for coffee," Tadashi says a few minutes later once he and Fred had managed to find a somewhat secluded area around back of the Megazon booth (no small feat at a major convention like this.) "And before you ask again, I don't know if it was taking her out or _taking_ her out-honestly, I think it was a little bit of both. I-I guess I just wanted to finally tell her..."

"Yes?" Fred prompts, obviously eager for details.

"That I wanted to become really good friends," Tadashi finally manages to get out, feeling his cheeks turning red again at the admission.

Fred, however, seems to deflate slightly at the answer. "Dude, you've been crushing on her since the start of the semester, and all you can tell her is that you want to become really good friends?"

"Hey, it's a start!" Tadashi protests, not even bothering to ask how the fanboy had figured out that he'd been crushing on Honey and deciding that it was probably best not to know. Seriously, it wasn't like he'd been that obvious about it-had he?

"Okay, that aside," Fred says, apparently deciding to let the whole romance thing go for the moment, and instead going into detective mode, "where exactly was this coffee shop? Was there anything weird about it? Any possibility of it being a front for some evil scientist's lair or a secret governmental experiment lab?"

"No, absolutely not!" Tadashi answers quickly, afraid that his friend was getting too far off into conspiracy theory territory. "Holy Grounds has got to be the most normal coffee shop on campus! I mean, it's where my parents went on their first date, for pete's sake, and I've been going there for years. I think I'd have noticed if there was something like that going on. And the owner, Miss June is just a sweet old lady-maybe she likes to meddle in others' affairs a bit too much, but she doesn't have an evil bone in her body!"

Fred seems to be taking all of this information in, nodding his head and muttering things like, "Very interesting..." Then, suddenly his eyes light up and he cries, "I've got it!"

"You-you do?" Tadashi stammers, not sure if he's more excited or worried by the fact that his friend had apparently already figured out the solution that had been evading him and Hiro all weekend so quickly.

Fred nods his head enthusiastically. "Dude, it's totally obvious! You took out the girl you like but were too afraid to tell her you true feelings. You went to the coffee shop where your parents went on their first date, and you even met up with an old wise woman. And then you and Honey both got genderbent? This is totally a classic case of shipping bend!"

"Beg pardon?" Tadashi blinks rapidly, not sure if he'd heard his friend right and seriously hoping that he hadn't.

"Amigo, the universe is trying to get the two of you together, and it just had to take drastic measures because you're too scared to be honest about your feelings!" Fred proclaims triumphantly.

Tadashi didn't know what was scarier-the fact that his childhood best friend who had absolutely no experience with romance was turning into a self-proclaimed love guru or the fact that what he was saying (as whacked out as it was) actually vaguely made sense. Still, the robotics student wasn't about to outright admit that. "Fred, stuff like that doesn't happen in real life!" he protests.

"Well apparently, genderbends don't happen in real life either, and yet here we are," Fred counters, looking slightly smug.

 _He's got a point_ , Tadashi admits to himself with slight sigh. Still, not wanting to fully jump on board with this idea (he didn't think that he liked where it was headed if he outright admitted to having feelings for Honey), he tries again. "Even in fantasy worlds, have you ever actually come across any occasions where people got genderswapped just for the sake of bringing them together?"

"Um, ye~es!" Fred answers as if it's obvious, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a comic books before ruffling through its pages until he finds what he's looking for. "Right there!" He points to a panel and holds comic out so Tadashi can read it. "Dr. Slaughter M.D., Issue 57 page 23: Opaline tells the Good Doctor that she never would have fallen in love with him if they hadn't been forced to go through the genderbend together!"

Tadashi raises a skeptical eyebrow as he looks it over. "Seriously? They were that blatant about it?"

"Hey, I don't write the comics, I just read 'em," Fred responds with a slight shrug, returning the comic to his backpack.

"Okay, so, let's say maybe this is a case of some divine conspiracy to get me and Honey together," Tadashi says with a slight sigh, not really wanting to go with this theory but knowing that he's probably going to have to since, at least for the moment, there aren't really any other options. "What exactly would we need to do to get switched back?"

Fred's face instantly fills with a grin that he doesn't even bother to try to hide. "I was hoping you'd ask that."

Tadashi feels his stomach drop—he definitely didn't like the sound of where this was going.

"It's simple!" his friend exclaims, rocking back and forth on his heels with more excitement than the robotics student thought was necessary or appropriate at the moment. "All you need to do to get the genderbend reversed is to do what the forces that changed you guys wants!"

"Meaning...?" Tadashi hates playing dumb on this, but he's still holding out the irrational hope that maybe he's wrong about where Fred's going with this. The look that the fanboy gives him, though, says that the act isn't working.

"Dude. You need to just go tell her how you feel." The fact that Fred had just said that straight out, not a trace of a smile on his face, made the words carry a lot more weight. As goofy as his friend could be, Tadashi was able to tell when he was actually being serious and he'd come to respect and listen to him during those times.

"All right," he agrees after a moment of internal struggle. "I'll do it."

"Excellent!" Fred' grin is instantly back. "Seriously, I'm so happy for you guys! It's going to be so awesome seeing the two of you finally happy together!"

"Well, hey, I haven't even talked to her yet," Tadashi reminds his friend, rubbing the back of his neck but feeling a happy blush begin to cross his face as he thinks about what things might be like once he'd actually confessed his feelings. Still, he can't help but feel slightly worried as he adds, "But-what if she doesn't feel the same way? Or, worse, what if she doesn't feel the same way, this doesn't end up working, and we're both still stuck!"

"Then you're no worse off than when you started," Fred answers, for once being the voice of reason.

"But what if she really doesn't like me that way and it messes up our friendship?" Tadashi presses.

"But what if she does?" Fred puts a calming hand on his shoulder. "Amigo, the way I see it, you're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't take some risks every once in a while."

Tadashi gives a slight smile at that. Fred, of all people, knew about taking risks and never letting fear get in his way. The fanboy wasn't afraid to just be who he was or to follow his passions wherever they took him, and it was something that the robotics genius seriously admired about him.

"Okay," Tadashi agrees, giving his friend a nervous smile. "I'm willing to take that chance."

"Great!" Fred wraps him up in another enthusiastic hug, which the other boy gratefully returns. "Seriously, I'm rooting for you," the fanboy whispers.

"I know," Tadashi answers with a smile. "Thank you."

"Oh, one last thing," Fred says as he lets the other boy go. "Just going off of all the genderbend stories that I've seen or read, probably the best place to do this is back at the place where it all started, preferably at the same time too."

"Got it!" Tadashi nods his head to show that he understands, and then starts back off towards the robotics expo to find Hiro so they could get going and so he could hopefully start the ball rolling on returning both himself and Honey Lemon back to normal.

"Good luck!" Fred calls, waving enthusiastically.

"Thank you!" Tadashi returns, waving back. _Because I am so going to need it_ , he mentally adds before turning on his heel and hurrying off to go get Hiro. All he can hope for now is that his little brother had managed to stay out of any major trouble while he was talking to Fred.

As he nears the robotics expo, he suddenly starts hearing startled shrieks and cries, and, his heart pounding, he quickly kicks into high gear. His initial reaction, of course, is to think that maybe Hiro's in some sort of danger. But, as he fights his way upstream through the crowd of fleeing people and finally reaches the point where he can view the inside of the pavilion, he realizes that Hiro _is_ the danger-or, more correctly, the robot that he's controlling is.

"HIRO!" Tadashi cries, part of him feeling relieved that his brother was relatively safe but another part very, very worried about where all of this was going to lead. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Ok, so I know this looks bad, but this guy said I couldn't build a cool bot, so I said I could, and he bet I couldn't, so I built it and everyone freaked out, even though it's only walking…and I'm so dead, aren't I?" Hiro hurriedly explained, groaning when he saw guards approaching.

"You think?" Tadashi shouts. "Oh my gosh, we are going to be banned from every con in SF for the rest of our lives!"

"Maybe not," Aurebesh says suddenly. "Come on, follow me!" He waves for the rest of the group to come with him and then starts to take off through the exhibition.

Tadashi casts a desperate glance at the other two siblings, who just shrug and head off after their brother. Not knowing what else to do, the elder Hamada grabs Hiro's hand and follows suit.

"Where are we going?" Hiro shouted as his brother dragged him through the convention center. He wished someone would tell him _something,_ but either they couldn't hear him or where simply choosing to ignore him. "Did we really have to leave my bot?" he tried again.

"I have no idea," Tadashi finally responds to the first question, his attention having been focused on realizing just how difficult it was to run in a skirt, and then he adds, "And YES! Do you want security to be able to track us?"

"But that guy will just steal it and claim it as his own!" Hiro snapped. "Not cool!"

"Don't worry," Ace calls, reversing direction and heading back towards where they'd left the robot. "You guys keep going! I'll go grab it, and I'll get it back to you later!"

"Thank you!" Hiro exclaimed, grinning like mad. Hopefully Ace would get the bot before security or the man stole it. He'd spent way too much time on that bot to let it just get taken like that!

"Come on, through here," Aurebesh calls, waving for the others to follow him through a gap he'd found between two of the panel walls.

"Oh my gosh, this is just like last Spring's _HorsieCon_!" Crystal squeals, ducking through the gap.

"Wait-you guy have done this before?" Tadashi cries, coming to a halt and feeling somewhat unnerved.

"Let's just say that we don't have to go looking for adventures, they come to us," Aurebesh responds with a wry smile. Then, his voice taking on an authoritative tone, he adds, "Now come on, get moving!" To emphasize his point, he grabs both of the Hamadas by the wrist and drags them through the gap and into a dimly lit passage.

"The emergency exit is right through here!" Crystal calls from a little further up the hall, pointing to a door with a glowing Exit sign over it.

"Great." Aurebesh turns to the two boys who were still somewhat recovering from their run. "By any chance, can either of you disable an alarm?"

"Easily!" Hiro declared. "Can someone lift me up?"

Before Tadashi can even react, Aurebesh, who's actually a little bit taller than him, reaches down and picks up the younger Hamada.

"Ooh, this is so exciting!" Crystal squeaks, practically bouncing up and down on her feet.

Tadashi stares at her in disbelief. "Okay, I'm sorry, but seriously, what is wrong with you?" he asks before he can even hold the potentially offensive question back.

"Bipolar," Crystal responds, momentarily going completely serious.

"Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" Tadashi instantly starts stumbling over his words as he tries to form a coherent apology.

"Aw, stop freaking out," Crystal says, swatting him playfully and grinning. "Seriously, I'm not that easily offended. Sorry if I've seemed a little out there today-I'm on my upswing right now. Trust me, you don't want to see me when I'm on my depression downswing-which, quite frankly, is most of the time. But hanging out with you guys today has seriously helped make this day amazing, so thank you for that." She gives his arm a grateful squeeze.

Tadashi nods wordlessly, not sure exactly how to respond to that, but feeling glad that, as confusing as her explanation had been, apparently he and Hiro had somehow helped her.

Aurebesh, who'd been looking on with a smile which told Tadashi that he cared about as much about his little sister as the older of the Hamadas did about his own brother, turns his attention back to the younger boy as the sound of a loud "beep" comes from the device. "What ya got, little man?" he asks. "Think you've gotten through?"

"Yep, we're good!" Hiro declared. "Thanks for the lift! I think I can see all of San Fransokyo from up here!"

Aurebesh laughs at that as he sets the younger boy back down. "I appreciate the compliment, but I'm really not that tall."

"Keep telling yourself that, guy-who-makes-me-look-like-a-dwarf!" Crystal shoots back playfully.

Aurebesh shakes his head but doesn't argue with her. "Well, let's see if this works," he says with a half-grin, putting his hand on the door and, carefully, beginning to push it open. At least three of the assembled flinch involuntarily, half expecting the alarm to go off. But it doesn't, and everyone gives huge sighs of relief.

"Okay, come on, everyone through the door," Aurebesh directs, flagging them on. Tadashi takes Hiro's hand and does as directed, with Crystal following close behind him. Aurebesh is last, pulling the door shut as he exits and making sure that it's closed tightly behind them.

As they slipped out of the building the younger Hamada grinned up at his niisan and then said in a disappointed tone, "Wow bro, I never thought you'd fall so far. Sneaking out of a convention through an emergency exit to escape the cops? Tsk tsk, what kind of example are you setting for your innocent little brother?"

This obviously sarcastic comment causes Aurebesh to burst out laughing.

"Hey, he wasn't the one building the robot that almost got us all kicked out!" Crystal shoots back good naturedly. Then she suddenly freezes as Hiro's words sink in. "Wait-what do you mean by 'bro'?" she asks slowly, looking back and forth between the two Hamada siblings.

Unsure of what exactly to say Hiro slowly responded, "What, the name Tadashi didn't clue you in?"

"I'm not an expert on names!" Crystal returns, still staring at the elder Hamada as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So-you're a guy?!"

"Um...yeah," Tadashi agrees, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Or, sort of? It's-it's kind of complicated right now."

"So, what you're trying to tell us is that you're—what, genderbent?" Aurebesh asks, sounding incredulous.

"Pretty much," the elder Hamada answers, his face growing even redder under the two siblings' stares.

"Wow…" Crystal blinks a few times, and Tadashi's convinced that she's about to either tell him off for lying or else completely freak out. But then, suddenly, her face breaks out into a huge grin and she cries, "Oh my gosh, this is totally epic!"

"Yeah it is!" Aurebesh agrees eagerly. "Wow, how did you manage to pull it off? Did you run into some alien technology or ancient runes or something?"

The two Hamadas stare at them, open mouthed with shock and too stunned to answer. This was definitely not the response that they'd expected.

"Wait, so you're not...You're not freaked out by this?" Hiro stammered, the first to finally recover. How where these guys so ok with all of this?

"You grow up in a family of nerds, you spend your free time wishing that you'd stumble into the middle of something like this," Aurebesh explains with a slight smile. "I mean, take me for example-I'm hoping that there's actually this secret room from a video game in New Mexico filled with books that can write you into another world."

"I spent my entire childhood and a good bit of high school wanting to be taken off to Neverland or Narnia, and I lost track all of the random mythical creatures I've wanted to be over the years," Crystal adds with a grin. "Plus I've currently got the most active world of 'imaginary' friends out of everyone in this whole state." She looks briefly to her right and smiles, assumedly at some person only she could see. Then she turns her attention back to the Hamada siblings. "So, yeah, trust me, it takes a lot to phase us."

"That... I... ok..." Hiro mumbled, slightly concerned. Was he the only one who reacted badly to this whole thing?

"Don't worry, we're just nerds, this is what we do," Aurebesh reassures Hiro, apparently having noticed the younger boy's worried expression and wanting to reassure him that not the whole world was crazy.

"What is it that nerds do?" Everyone turns to see Ace coming out through the emergency exit with Hiro's bot.

"Ace, you made it!" Crystal cries, happily glomping onto her brother.

"Did you doubt I would?" Ace answers with an amused smile.

"Nope, not for a second," Crystal replies with a grin.

"I think this belongs to you," Ace says, turning to Hiro and delivering the robot.

The younger Hamada gratefully took the bot before saying, "In answer to your question, apparently not getting weirded out by really weird things that normal people would be weirded out by. And as for the robot, thanks for grabbing it for me!"

"No prob," Ace answers with a slight smile. "Did I miss anything major?"

"We found out that Dashi's a guy!" Crystal announces cheerfully.

"Oh my gosh-tact, Crystal, tact!" Aurebesh groans, looking as embarrassed for the older of the Hamada's as Tadashi himself is feeling.

"Oops, sorry..." Crystal apologizes with a slight wince, glancing over at Tadashi. "Sorry, I just got overexcited."

"It's okay," Tadashi reassures her, a small part of him glad that he hadn't had to actually explain it on his own.

"We'll fill you in later," Aurebesh promises Ace, who's looking vaguely weirded out and extremely confused by the news. "For now, I guess the important thing is to ask if there's anything we can do to help?" The three siblings turn to the Hamadas, all of them obviously more than willing to offer whatever assistance they can.

"Actually, I think you've already done more than enough," Tadashi answers with a grateful smile. "I'm pretty sure that I've actually finally got the solution to my problem."

"Wait, Fred actually knew what to do?" Hiro asked, feeling amazed. "I thought this whole trip was just a major long shot!"

"Yeah, me too," Tadashi agrees, turning slightly red as he thinks back on the conversation. "But he had a potential solution-or, at least, he thought it was a possible solution... I'm just going to have to go out on a limb and hope it works, because it could end up being seriously embarrassing..."

"Embarrassing? Anything I can do to help with it?" Hiro asked, an innocent expression on his face but knowing that his brother could see right through it.

"Sorry, but you can't help me on this one, little bro," Tadashi answers with a slight smile, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "From the sounds of things, I'm going to have to...well, I'm going to have to go finally tell Honey Lemon how I feel about her."

"Wait, so this whole genderbend thing has a romance mixed in?!" Crystal squeaks. "Oh my gosh, that is seriously adorable!"

"Crystal..." Aurebesh swats her gently. "Stop butting into their conversation!"

Ace turns to Tadashi. "You're sure that there's not anything that we can do to help? Do you need escorts to wherever you're going?"

"No, although thanks for the offer," Tadashi replies with a grateful smile. Checking the time on his phone, he adds, "But I really do need to get going. My friend said that I probably have to be in the same place at the same time for this to actually work, and it's almost 11:30 now-if I hurry, I'll probably have just enough time to make it."

"Okay, well, you have my number if you need us," Aurebesh tells him, coming over to give him a firm handshake. "Let us know how things go, and definitely look us up no matter what happens."

"Hopefully we'll see you around the university?" Ace adds.

"Absolutely," Tadashi answers with a nod. "Thank you guys so much for everything!"

"It was our pleasure," Aurebesh reassures him.

"Thank you for making this, like, the best con ever!" Crystal whispers into the older Hamada's ear as she hugs him one last time. Then she gives him a playful shove on the shoulder and says in a normal voice, "Now go, live your dream!"

"I will," Tadashi laughs before turning back to his otouto. "C'mon, let's get going!"

"You want me to come with you to find this girl?" Hiro asked as they headed off down the street, following his brother closely in case they ran into any creepers again.

"Um... I would say yes, but this is-well, sort of personal?" Tadashi admits with an embarrassed smile as they head towards the streetcar stop. "Not that I don't want you there!" he quickly reassures his little brother. "It's just that I'm not sure I want you to be watching if I completely crash and burn."

"Alright..." Hiro mumbled shrugging slightly. "I guess I'll head home and uh... keep myself busy for a while..." He didn't look at his brother as the street car pulled up, unsure as to how he felt about all of this. On the one hand, he wanted his brother to be happy, but on the other he wasn't sure how he felt about his brother dating someone. Would that mean his niisan would spend what little free time he had with her instead of him? Would he ever see his brother after this? He forces himself to shove the dark thoughts to the back of his mind. Regardless of how he felt about the whole thing, Tadashi deserved to be happy. And besides, it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it anyways.

The elder Hamada usually would have picked up on the cues that something was bothering his little brother, but right now he was too overwhelmed with his own emotions and concerns. He didn't even notice the uncomfortable silence that settled between them as they waited for the streetcar to arrive. Eventually the tram pulled up to the corner, and he boarded it with his younger sibling trailing slightly behind. "You going to be okay here while I go get changed into the spare clothes I brought in my bag?" Tadashi asks once they're inside.

"Yea, I'll be fine," Hiro assured, slightly distracted by his own worries.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Tadashi hurries to the little bathroom in the back of the bus. As he changes into the clothes that he'd had on when he first got genderbent (he's so glad he thought ahead to pack them) he sort of wishes that he had a way to turn his hair back to its normal color, but can only hope that whatever had caused him to swap genders in the first place would be able to fix that too (if it actually chooses to fix him at all.) He returns to his otouto a few minutes later and slumps down onto the chair as a wave of insecurity hits him. "Oh gosh, I feel like going to throw up..." he moans, putting his head in his hands.

"You'll be fine!" Hiro assured, pushing away his worries about the whole thing for his brother's sake. "And hey-no matter what happens, you'll still have me!"

"Yeah..." Tadashi agrees, smiling slightly and wrapping his arms around his little brother. "You know that, no matter what, I'm always going to love you, right? You're the most important person in the world to me, and nothing and no one is ever going to come between us."

Rolling his eyes, Hiro said, "Your dork is showing." But he still awkwardly wrapped an arm around his brother, secretly relieved. A part of him wondered if his niisan would still be saying that if things worked out with Honey Lemon, but he squashed the feeling down. His brother deserved to be happy. The stop for their house came up, so he stood to get off. Before heading to the front with the others who were also exiting, though, he gives Tadashi an encouraging smile and tells him, "Hey, good luck bro!"

"Thanks!" Tadashi gives his otouto's hand one last squeeze before letting him go. Then, for some reason he can't fathom, as he watches his brother descending the steps of the bus, he feels the need to call out, "Don't forget forget what I said-I love you no matter what!" Then the doors "hiss" shut and, for better or worse, he's on his way to the university to meet his fate-whatever that might turn out to be.

Hiro sighed and meandered up to his room, wondering what he should do to keep himself entertain for at least a few hours. He was almost positive that his brother and this girl would be hanging out for a while after his niisan's confession. He collapsed in front of his computer with a heavy sigh, Tadashi's words echoing in his mind. His brother had told him that he'd always love him—but would he still love him if he found out about his bot fights? Hiro wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that question.

A sudden "ding" from the computer was enough to startle him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen, reading a message about a bot fight that was about to start on the other side of town. He stood up eagerly, about to grab his bot, but then froze. What if his niisan came home before he did? He had promised he'd wait here for him... On the other hand, he was positive that Tadashi would at least be gone a few hours, so what was the harm in going out for a bit? He bitterly realized that once his brother got his girlfriend, he'd easily be able to go to all the bot fights he wanted since his niisan would be too occupied to notice he was gone.

These painful thoughts burning in mind, Hiro grabbed Megobot and ran out the door. What his brother didn't know wouldn't hurt him.


	15. Chapter 15

Tadashi dials Honey Lemon's number into his phone and waits somewhat impatiently for her to pick up. It's not that he's upset with her in any way. It's just that, with all the craziness that he's been through in the past couple of days, the fact that he's down to one last possibility of how to fix all of this is leaving him feeling seriously anxious.

Honey is sitting alone in her apartment. She stares silently at the wall in front of her. She had been like that for ... She doesn't remember how long it's been, actually. Her mind had been racing the entire day.

"What are we going to do?" she asks rhetorically as she breaks her gaze from the wall to look down at herself. "Yep, I'm still a guy," she sighs. She had been this way for about a full day now. It might not have seemed like a long time to anyone else, but when she had nothing to do but sit alone in her apartment and think about her predicament, it felt like an eternity. She didn't want to say it, to admit it to herself, but she was starting to lose hope. Maybe she would be stuck as a guy forever. But no, she couldn't give up! ...Could she?

This negative train of thought crashes as she hears her phone go off loudly. Sighing and knowing that she'll probably have to let it ring through (she couldn't talk to any of her friends or family members right now due to the fact that her voice was much deeper as a boy), she picks it up, only to see that it was Tadashi calling.

 _Aw, poor guy ..._ she thinks with a sad smile. _Or, girl, technically._ He'd been genderswapped too. Wondering how he'd been holding up and if he maybe had some news, she slides a finger across her phone to answer.

"Hi!" she says, using a falsely chipper tone to try to how upset she really is.

"Hey, Honey Lemon?" Tadashi answers, feeling quite relieved that she'd actually picked up. "I was wondering if you could meet me outside Holy Grounds in about fifteen minutes? I may have an idea of how to get us changed back-it's a long shot, but it just might work!"

Honey's attitude completely shifts from false acceptance to pure excitement. "Are you serious!?" she shrieks, only to force herself to take a deep breath before talking into the phone again. After all, she didn't wanting to murder her poor friend's eardrums. "I'll be there," she promises once she's calmed down slightly, and then quickly presses a finger to her phone to hang up.

Tadashi also hangs up his phone and checks the time on his watch: 2:15. If he hurries, he'll just make it. Hoping and praying for the best, he takes off from where he'd been waiting by the Ito Ishioka Lab towards the coffee shop, all the way chanting in his mind, "Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work..."

Honey jumps off of her couch and looks at the clock. "2:16 ... I'll make it." She nods and quickly picks up her bright pink glasses that she had just recently taken off. Then she opens the door to her apartment and hurries off out of the building.

Tadashi makes it to the coffee shop with just minutes to spare. He gulps in breaths of air, trying to actually get his lungs to function again after the sprint, ignoring the slightly weirded out looks that he was getting from some of the people walking past. Now he could only hope that he'd gotten here before Honey.

Honey, coming up the sidewalk at a fast clip, looked down at the clock on her phone. "Oh gosh! I'm almost late!" she exclaims and picks up the pace, going from a quick walk to a full on dash. After accidently knocking down an innocent bystander and profusely apoligizing, she manages to burst through the doors of the café with just a minute to spare. She quickly darts her eyes around to find Tadashi sitting at a small table. For a moment she almost doesn't recognize him—the long pink hair would be enough to throw anyone off. Still, she manages to quickly recover from the shock, and she walks over, running her fingers through her hair and fixing her scarf before sitting down. "Sorry I'm almost late," she apologizes.

"Hey, it's okay," Tadashi quickly reassures her, reaching over and squeezing her hand. "I just got here myself!" He wonders if she'd had as much of a crazy time as he had over the past weekend. Well, she hadn't had to go through her first period, had her hair dyed pink, and he seriously doubted that she'd ended up dressing up in a neco Japanese school girl uniform, but hey, who knew?

"Are you holding up okay?" he asks, wanting to make sure that, even if she seemed fine physically, she was also okay emotionally and mentally.

"Eh ..." Honey considers her next choice of words carefully. Should she tell him that she was, arguably, very close to having a mental breakdown? No, probably not. She doesn't want to worry him any more than he already is.

"It's been…weird, that's for sure," she finally says. "What about you? Have you been doing alright?"

Her companion is about to answer that when suddenly a random guy passing by slows and, giving him a once over, says coyly, "Hey, is it hot in here, or is that just the Holy Spirit burning inside of you?"

"No, that's probably just the burning bush I'm about to push you into if you don't get out of here in the next thirty seconds," Tadashi shoots back curtly, making the other guy quickly beat a hasty retreat. He lets out an exasperated sigh before turning back to look at his friend. "Yeah, that's pretty much been my weekend," he responds with a wry smile.

Honey gives her friend an apologetic face, she could semi-relate. "Gosh, I am so sorry you've had to put up with being a girl," she says with a sympathetic frown. "It can be pretty tough sometimes."

"It's definitely made me appreciate everything you girls have to go through," he responds, grimacing slightly as he feels another cramp sneaking up on him again. "And I do mean _everything_. But, um, hey, how about you? Have any troubles with being a guy aside from, well, the usual troubles of getting used to being the opposite gender?"

"Well ..." She shrugs. "Some girls can be a bit uh ... Forward." She shudders at the memory of a rather ill-fated trip to a pizza restaurant the night before. "Also, the increased amount of body hair I have is overwhelming, and I can't wear high heels."

"Sounds like you've had a rough time of it too," Tadashi says with an empathetic smile, remembering some of his own experiences as a guy with girls who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. That was part of the reason that he liked Honey Lemon so much-she was so naturally adorable and sweet and while she never tried to force herself on anyone, but people couldn't help but love her. Thinking of this brought him back to the reason for asking her to come here... Oh gosh. It had sounded so simple when Fred had laid it out at the convention-the idea that maybe this whole genderbend had come about for purpose of getting the two of them together, and that the way to reverse it would be to bring Honey back to the spot where it had all begun and be honest about his feelings for her (how Fred, probably the least romantic guy he knew of, would manage to come up with this solution was a mystery, although then again this was a fairly common trope on the internet and in shows so maybe that was it.) But right now, with her actually sitting right there across from him, the idea of actually doing so left him scared spitless.

Honey takes a good long look around them, suddenly taking note of the fact that they are back in the place where the genderbend had first happened. She raises a curious eyebrow, wondering why her friend had brought her back here. "So, um, Tadashi?" she finally begins, hoping to have her questions answered. "How _are_ we going to get back to normal? And why did we have to meet here of all places?"

"U-um..." Tadashi can feel himself blushing like crazy, but he tries to keep his voice calm as he continues. "I-I was talking to Fred since he's k-kind of an expert on-well, on crazy stuff like this? And h-he... w-well he told me that he thought maybe coming back to the place where it all started might help somehow trigger off a reverse reaction?" Not the full truth, but he was working his way towards it. Gosh darn it, why was it so hard to be honest about his feelings with her?

Honey nods slowly. "Ah, well ... It doesn't seem to be working," she responds with a slight frown.

"No-I mean, like, back out on the porch," Tadashi explains with an embarrassed smile. "Preferably at the same time when we were there the first time, which is going to be in about five minutes here. There's-a little bit more, but we should probably get out there first so that we can make sure that we don't miss being out there at the right time."

"Oh, alright," Honey agrees, still feeling somewhat lost. "Gosh, I really hope this idea of Fred's works," she adds as she stands up. "I'm tired of being a guy."

"I don't blame you, I feel the exact same way about being a girl," Tadashi replies, unable to keep himself from chuckling as he gets up from the table and feeling grateful that he at least has something he can still laugh about. "Shall we?" He motions towards the door in the back of the cafe, trying not to let on just how terrified he is.

"Yeah," she answers, heading towards the door.

Tadashi follows her out onto the porch, checking the time on his watch. Almost there. He's going to have to get this over with quickly if he doesn't want the both of them to get stuck as the opposite gender for the next twenty-four hours, or possibly longer. "Um, H-Honey Lemon?" he begins nervously, gripping onto the railing of the porch for support so hard that his knuckles were turning white. "Uh, t-there's something which F-Fred told me w-which might have b-been the cause of all of this, and, well... I-I don't know if he's right, b-but if he is, I-I'm willing to give his s-solution a try if it means that we can get back to normal."

Honey looks at her friend with concern. What was this solution he was talking about? Whatever it was, he looked terribly sick about it. "Uh …are you alright?" she asks gently, placing a hand on his forehead. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," Tadashi quickly reassures her, even though he honestly does feel vaguely like he's going to throw up he's so nervous (or, maybe that was still the period talking.) Taking a deep breath, he starts slowly, "Um, Fred pretty much said that, from everything he's seen and read, that most of the time crazy stuff like genderbends happen for a reason-like, there's usually something which at least one of the people involved needs to do or work out in their lives before everyone gets turned back to normal, something which they normally wouldn't have done if they hadn't had the extra push."

Honey nods slowly. "Oh, alright ..." she trails off before admitting, "I'm still confused."

"Well, you probably would be since it... it seems like I'm the one who's supposed to be making the change. Or, more correctly, I guess, making a confession?" Tadashi rubs the back of his neck, part of him wanting to draw this out for as long as possible to prolong the awkwardness, but a quick glance at the clock on the wall tells him that he needs to get moving if this is going to work. So, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath, he finally forces out the words that he'd been holding in since Freshman Orientation. "I-I really like you. Like, _like_ you, like you. I think I've had a major crush on you since the first time I laid eyes on you. You're always so adorably perky, and you've got such a passion for life and learning, and whenever I'm with you-well, honestly you make me feel like, no matter how dark the world seems, that there's hope somewhere and that there's sunshine just waiting around the corner. The more time I spend with you, the stronger this feeling's gotten-I-I've never felt this way about anyone before in my life. With all of this craziness that's been happening and the time that we've been spending together because of it, it's gotten to the point where I could hardly keep my mouth shut about it. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to make things weird between us, but when telling you this seemed like it might be the only fix things, I just-I figured I'd give it a shot. And I guess I thought maybe this was the right time to see if...well, if possibly there was any way that you felt the same about me?" He grimaces slightly as he finishes, not daring to open his eyes and see the expression on the face of the girl he'd secretly been falling in love with for months. His spirits hung somewhere between unspeakable joy and the depths of shame and rejection. The next few minutes would determine where they fell.

Honey feels as if she has been staring at the guy/girl standing in front of her with their eyes tightly shut for hours, but she can't think of anything to say. A mixture of both extreme flattery and awkwardness floods over her. If she had heard correctly, Tadashi had just confessed that he had feelings for her!

 _What am I supposed to say_? She asks herself. _I can't just leave him hanging there!_

Honey finally stops staring at her friend, closing her eyes to think.

 _The poor guy, no wonder he was looking so awful!_

Then, a new set of questions flooded through Honey's mind.

 _I don't feel the same way! What am I supposed to do? It would break my heart if I broke his!_

Eventually, without saying a word, she quickly wraps her companion in a tight hug, and, after holding him in the embrace for a few seconds, she finally manages to stammer out, "I - I'm flattered, Tadashi."

"But... you don't feel the same way, do you?" Tadashi says, internally letting out a huge sigh and feeling his hopes take a nosedive. Despite the hug, he could tell from the tone of her voice that she definitely saw him as a friend, not as a possible romantic partner-he'd used the same one enough times himself when he'd had to turn down girls who asked him to take them to dances back in high school. He'd always guiltily wondered how they'd felt afterwards-now he knows, and it absolutely bites.

Honey could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She could hear the sadness in her friend's voice, and it made her heart hurt.

Finally, she lets go of him. "I'm so sorry, Tadash, but…yeah," she sighs. "Gah, now I feel terrible." She takes a finger and wipes a tear from her eye. "You just ... opened up to me like that ... only to get shut down ... I'm so sorry."

"No, it's totally fine!" Tadashi quickly reassures her, giving her hand a brief squeeze and forcing a genuine looking smile onto his face. It was a skill that he'd perfected over time. He never let anyone know how hurt he was. He never let anyone see what was going on behind the perfect exterior. "I'm just sorry I made things things so awkward for you," he quickly apologizes, making it sound completely sincere. That was another skill that he'd picked up-always apologize, always make things his own fault so no one else got hurt. He didn't want anyone but himself to have to deal with the pain. He was strong enough to take it all on himself-or, at least, he'd like to think that he was. He'd never allow himself to believe otherwise.

"O-oh, okay ..." Honey sniffles one last time. "You sure?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees with a firm nod, hating the fact that he was straight up lying through his teeth, but there was no way that he was going to let her know how upset he was. "The last thing I want to do is mess up our friendship." That, at least, was the truth.

He sees that Honey's about to reply, but, before she can, suddenly a strong wind kicks up around them. Tadashi, as before, has to lift an arm to shield his face from any debris might be caught in the mini twister, and then, just as abruptly as it had come, it was gone. Carefully, the young man lowers his arm, wondering if this had actually worked, or if things had possibly become even worse. One glance down at himself, though, is enough to answer that question.

"Oh my gosh, I'm back to normal!" he cries, his prior emotional distress temporarily forgotten as he's flooded with intense relief. Looking himself over, he could see that he was definitely a guy again—and, even better, from the little bit he could see of it, apparently whatever had just switched them back had also returned his hair to its natural color.

Honey looks down at herself as well. What is this? She has her body back? Could it be that Fred's theory worked? She would have to thank that guy later!

Despite the recent drama that had just unfolded, she couldn't keep the giant smile off of her face—she was too happy to keep it all inside. She does a quick twirl in her original outfit before squealing, "I'm back to normal, too!"

"That's great!" Tadashi grins, even as a dull ache fills his heart. Honestly, before the rejection this would have filled him with joy, seeing her so adorably happy and even imagining that maybe someday he'd be the one that brought that smile to her beautiful face. But now he knows that that's never going to be the case. Realizing that he needs to get out of there before the emotions get to be too much, he pulls his cap down slightly over his eyes and says, "Well, I-I'm really glad that this all worked out. I'm sorry that you had to get mixed up in all of the craziness, but I guess that maybe we both learned some important lessons thanks to it. I-I probably need to go now so I can let Hiro know that I'm back to normal. He's waiting at home for me, and he's probably freaking out wondering if I got changed back or not."

"O-oh, alright." Honey frowns. "You sure you don't want to stay a little while longer? I mean, we never actually got to enjoy sitting out here the first time we came because of all of the craziness that happened..."

"N-no, that's all right," he responds with a shaky smile. "I-I just need to get going. I'll...see you around the lab, okay?" He gives her an awkward wave before hurrying off down the back steps, refusing to even look back. He might as well have said, "Have a nice life", because, as far as he was concerned, he was walking right out of hers.

"Oh ... Alright." Honey waves halfheartedly as she watches her friend leave. Once she sees that he is gone she sits down at one of the tables and looks out at the traffic.

"What did I do?" she asks herself. "I'm glad I didn't lie ... But I feel awful." With a sigh, she lays her head down on her arms. She had to make it up to him somehow. He may have acted like he wasn't affected by her actions, and maybe he wasn't, but she couldn't help but feel as if she had really hurt him.

0o0

Tadashi sighs as he wanders his way down the hallways of Ito Ishioka. Honestly, he knows that he should be heading home to tell Hiro the good news about the gender bend being over, but he just can't bring himself to go home-not yet. He knows that the inevitable question when he gets back is how the confession went and he's not ready to admit to the fact that he'd just been shut down by the first girl he'd ever thought he might actually be in love with. She'd been super nice about it, of course-Honey would never try to purposefully hurt his feelings. But that didn't mean that it didn't still majorly hurt knowing that his affections currently weren't and quite possibly never would be returned.

As he nears the office of his mentor, Tadashi realizes with a start that the door's been left slightly ajar. That wasn't like Professor Callaghan-as much as the older man did have an "open door" policy with his students, he did believe in having his privacy and wouldn't have left it open unless something was wrong. Partly curious and partly worried, Tadashi hurries over to check things out. Carefully peering around the edge of the door, he dares to look inside the office. He's initially slightly alarmed to see an young woman in her late twenties with her light brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail sitting at the professor's desk. Who was she and what was she doing in his mentor's office? But then a distant memory from the past comes back to him of a certain favorite babysitter he'd had when he was little and he makes the connection between her and the woman now before him. He can't help but grin slightly as he sees just how grown up his favorite surrogate older sister looks. "A-Abigail?" he finally says once he'd regained his voice, opening the door a little wider and stepping inside.

Abigail was sitting at her father's desk, sorting out a few things for him while he was in a meeting. She wished he didn't have to deal with so much paperwork-the last thing she wanted was for her father to be overworking himself.

When she heard someone saying her name, she figured that her dad was back. But when she looked up, she saw a young man walking in. For a minute, she wonders why he looked so familiar, and then her eyes go wide with recognition. Could it be? "Tadashi?" she asks. The grin on his face is more than enough to confirm his suspicions. "Oh my gosh, how you've grown!" she cries, standing up to greet the boy that she'd babysat for so many years ago. "It has been so long!"

"Y-yeah, it's been a long time!" Tadashi agrees, unable to keep a huge smile off of his face. No matter how bad his day had been going, seeing Abigail was always enough to make the whole world seem a little bit brighter-she was just that sort of person (well, that and the fact that she was intrinsically linked to gummy bears in his mind since she'd always brought some along whenever she'd babysat for him.)

"H-how are you doing?" he asks, coming a little further into the office. "I heard from your dad that you're working at Krei Tech now-that's so great!"

"Oh yeah, totally!" Abigail agrees happily. "Working at Krei Tech is my dream job! I'm learning _so_ much, and my boss, Mr Krei, really respects his employees. It's an amazing opportunity, and I'm getting to help change the world, one invention at a time! But, enough about me, how are _you_?"

"That sounds fantastic! I'm so happy for you!" Tadashi says with a genuine smile. Then his cheerfulness falters slightly as he encounters her question about how he's doing. Honestly, he doesn't feel like lying to her (he'd done enough of that today to last him a lifetime), so he admits with a slight sigh, "Me? Well... I've been better."

"Really?" Abigail frowns in concern. "I'm so sorry to hear that-is there anything I can do to help?"

With almost anyone else, Tadashi probably wouldn't have opened up about his problems. But somehow, he'd always been able to talk to Abigail about anything. Maybe it was the fact that she'd always been there for him when he was little and hadn't had anyone else to talk to about his problems. Maybe it was just her sweet, caring nature. Whatever it was, he leans up against the wall and admits with a slight sigh, "I...sort of got shut down by the first girl that I ever had a serious crush on. Well…the first girl after you, that is." He gives her a slightly amused smile as he remembers the schoolboy crush that he'd had on his babysitter back in elementary school. "I guess I'm just destined to be unlucky in romance, huh?"

Abigail also wants to smile as memories of a little toddler Tadashi bringing her flowers he'd picked or a ring he'd gotten from the vending machine flash through her mind, but she couldn't quite do that when her young friend was in the middle of heartbreak. "Wow, that must have been really hard for you," she says sympathetically, putting a soft hand on his shoulder. "I definitely know how it feels-I've been turned down more times than I can count. But never say never—trust me, the right person's out there. And who knows—even though she said 'no' now, your friend might feel the same in time." She couldn't help but smile when Tadashi mentioned her being his first crush, how he would go bright red whenever he saw her.

"Y-yeah." Tadashi can't help but smile slightly at her words. Then he glances at the clock on the wall and his eyes go wide. "Oh, shoot, is it that late already?!" he cries. "Hiro's going to be freaking out! After all of the craziness we've been through this weekend, I don't think he even wanted me out of his sight, let alone going missing on him for hours!"

Abigail is relieved to see Tadashi's smile back, but at his words she nods in understanding. "Oh, of course!" she agrees. "You go find your brother. And tell him I said 'hello', okay?"

"Will do," Tadashi agrees with a slight smile, waving as he heads for the door. Then, turning back momentarily, he adds, "Hopefully I'll see you again soon?"

"Count on it," Abigail agrees, waving back as he leaves. He was such a sweet boy… She could only hope that they'd run into each other again in the near future.


	16. Chapter 16

Tadashi rolls into the back alley behind the cafe in a much more subdued mood than when he'd headed out that morning. Then he'd been so full of hope-now, his world's a significantly darker place. The talk with Abigail had helped, but that didn't make finding out that the first girl he'd ever seriously had a crush on didn't return his affections any less painful. Honestly, he should have known better. Maybe it just wasn't in the cards for him to find love. A part of him says to just take all of those hurtful emotions and bury them way down deep like he usually does, to force himself to forget that he'd ever been in love with her in the first place. Another part, a slightly darker and more sadistic part, says to keep holding onto the pain, to blame himself for what had happened and internalize it all until it had eaten away at everything good inside. Before he could act on either of those two impulses, though, suddenly an image of Hiro flashes through his mind. He can almost see his little brother a couple of nights ago when they'd been in their room and his otouto had found out not one but two of his darkest secrets but hadn't rejected him, instead hugging him until all of the pain went away. Then there was there was the way he had helped the elder Hamada find the fun in inventing again when they'd built their three crazy contraptions out in the garage the night after that. And finally there was the persistent way Hiro had worked to try to get him back to normal ever since he'd been genderbent. Seriously, no matter how low Tadashi got, no matter what he did, it seemed like his brother was always there-that he would never give up on him. When everyone else would have left him, his otouto stayed by his side, no matter what.

The elder Hamada actually finds himself smiling slightly. Maybe this had actually a sort of blessing in disguise. Honestly, now that he thinks about it, he really isn't ready to have a girlfriend yet. He has way too much going on in his life right now, and, besides which, right now he needs to be focusing his energy on rebuilding his relationship with his brohter, not on some girl, no matter how nice she was. No one, not even Honey Lemon, was worth losing what he had with his otouto over. The rejection still stings, but at least now he feels somewhat better about things. And he knows exactly who can help make things even better.

Putting his key into the lock, Tadashi lets himself into the kitchen and calls out, "Hiro? Hiro, I'm home! And I've got awesome news!" He frowns slightly when he doesn't hear anything-no voice, no sound of footsteps anywhere in the house. Weird. He heads out into the living room. "Hello? Anyone home?" he tries again. Nothing. His brow furrows in concern. Okay, this wasn't like Hiro. As involved as he'd been about the whole genderbend thing, Tadashi had figured he'd practically have been waiting at the door for him to get home. Was it possible he'd maybe fallen asleep from exhaustion after their crazy morning? Deciding to check things out (and seriously hoping that his brother hadn't fallen and hurt himself or something else terrible), he takes the stairs up to the bedroom two at a time. But when he gets there, there's no sign of the boy. Tadashi begins to feel extremely worried. It wasn't like his otouto to go off without telling him first-he would have at least sent him a text or something...

Oh, wait! Tadashi winces slightly as he remembers that he'd put his phone on silent before going to talk to Honey. Shoot, how could he have been so careless? He quickly pulls his phone out to check for messages. No texts from his brother-but there were several alerts from his Hiro tracking app.

"What the heck?" he mutters, opening the window to take a closer look. He figured that they were probably old, but no-they were all within the last couple of hours. What on Earth was his otouto doing in the rougher parts of town at this time of day? It didn't make any sense! He sits down Hiro's computer chair, trying to puzzle this out. Months' worth of worry and suspicion started crowding into his mind, but he fights fiercely back against them. No! There was no way that his sweet little brother would be involved in anything wrong or dangerous! He's way too smart for that.

Tadashi quickly starts to get up from the chair, needing to do something physical to get his pent-up emotions and worry out. But as he does, he accidentally knocks into the computer mouse, causing the black screen of the monitor to come to life. Never in his life had he snooped on his otouto's computer-he trusted him way too much to do that-and he didn't intend to start now. But as he starts to turn away, his attention is caught and held by the map that comes up on the screen-or, more correctly, the words over the top of it: Bot Fights.

For a few moments he's frozen, and then he stumbles a few steps back, moving away from the computer as if it's some poisonous snake. No. Nonononononononono. NO! There was some mistake! He couldn't be seeing this! Hiro-Hiro would never be involved in something as illegal as bot fighting! His otouto-his musuko-He wouldn't! He couldn't!

Suddenly he hears the door to the bedroom opening behind him. "T-Tadashi? What are you doing?"

He swings around to see his little brother standing in the doorway-the boy's hair even more of a mess than usual, his hoodie torn, a few bruises and cuts visible on his skin. Worst of all, there's the tell-tale presence of a small robot in his hands. "Oh no..." Tadashi cries under his breath. And just like that, his world fully collapses in on itself.

Hiro was furious. He should have been coming home rolling in cash, but instead he was stumbling home in agony with even _less_ money than he'd left with. Apparently he'd won too many fights and his competitors were not happy with him. They had dragged him out back, beat him to a bloody pulp, and then, to top it all off, stole his money. When he had finally come around several hours late, he had dragged himself to his feet and slowly made his painful way home. He barely managed to stumble up to the room that he shared with Tadashi, hoping to clean himself up before his niisan got home. Instead, though, he found his brother already in the room and, even worse, staring at his computer screen.

"T-Tadashi? What are you doing?" Hiro whispered, enraged. How dare his brother look through his computer?! How _dare_ he invade Hiro's privacy like this when he'd spent the day gallivanting off with some gir?l! When his niisan didn't answer immediately, the younger Hamada snapped again, "Why are you looking through my computer?"

"Hiro, I-I swear this wasn't on purpose!" Tadashi tries to explain, completely caught off guard by his little brother's rage, his brain frantically trying to work on autopilot because everything inside of him is completely numb-either that, or it's just completely gone, decimated by the events of the day. "The mouse moved when I got up from the chair-You know I would never invade your privacy like this! P-please, you have to believe me!" He couldn't lose his otouto-he was the only thing he had left! He feels tears begin to prick his eyes. "Please..."

The younger Hamada deflates slightly, stunned by how upset his niisan was. Why was he upset? Shouldn't he be angry? Shouting? Or at least giving Hiro that disappointed scowl? "Is everything ok, Dashi?" the teen whispered, hating himself for upsetting his brother so much.

"Well, between getting completely shot down by the one girl I thought that I was actually in love with and then finding out that my little brother hates me, yeah, everything's aces right now," Tadashi replies, his mind automatically generating the response for him. Feeling like something had been irreversibly broken inside, he walks past the other boy and starts out into the hallway.

Hiro was stunned into silence by his brother's words for several seconds. He snapped out of it, though, when his brother brushed past him. Desperately grabbing his niisan's arm, he exclaimed, "I don't hate you! I love you! I was angry but... I don't have any right to be... I'm sorry, Dashi..."

Tadashi freezes as he feels his otouto's hand on his arm. He didn't know where he'd been about to head-honestly, probably to find a bridge to jump off of. But hearing his brother's panicked little voice causes something to finally start growing out of the ashes that were all that remained of his insides. Turning back around, he wraps his arms as tightly as he can around Hiro, letting that one little seed of hope that was inside him bloom into the strongest and purest love that he could have for his otouto-the unconditional, never-failing love of a combined niisan and otousan. Tears falling, he whispers into his brohter's hair the one thing he knew that he needed to hear most at that moment: "I still love you. No matter what you do, no matter what happens, no matter how hard you try to push me away, I still love you, and I am never, ever going to stop."

Hiro was stunned by the emotion behind his niisan's words, he sounded completely _shattered_ and it broke the younger boy's heart. He tightened his grip around his brother and whispered, "Hey, Dashi, I love you too. Nothing can change that... You know that right?" He was not nearly as good with words as his brother was—it was just another way he fell short of him. Still, pushing that dark thought aside, he asks gently, "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter." Tadashi shakes his head. "The important thing is that I'm here, with you, and I'm never letting you go again."

Hiro didn't like how upset his niisan sounded, but he also knew he'd never get his brother to talk, so instead he asked, "What can I do to help you feel better?"

"Just-just be here," Tadaashi replies, hugging him closer. "And...maybe help me understand? Hiro, if you've actually been bot fighting-I won't judge you, I-I'd just like to be able to know why." And he honestly means every word.

Hiro sighed, he really didn't want to get into this, but he owed it to his brother to tell him what was going on. "Ok, look I... School has just never really been my thing. No one gets me, or even wants to listen to what I have to say. And before you say it, yes, I know that bot fighting is dangerous. But at least they don't pretend to like you. And if you fight well, they respect you. They may not like you but they take me seriously, unlike... unlike the people at school. Those guys are _supposed_ to look out for me, but they refuse to. Yeah, bot fighters don't look out for me either but... they also aren't supposed to, y'know? I guess what I'm trying to say is that…when I'm bot fighting, I feel like I fit in. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's the only place that I feel accepted. And besides, it's not like school has anything left to teach me."

Tadashi nods. "I…I think I get it." He looks down into his otouto's eyes and lovingly tucks a strand of hair behind his ear. "Thank you for telling me all of that-I know it couldn't have been easy. I-I can't say that I can openly condone bot fighting since it's technically illegal. But just know that I really do understand sometimes having to find a way to deal with the pain that...well, that most people wouldn't understand or approve of." He exposes his wrist for his brother to see, and then gently strokes Hiro's own scars, which he can only guess his otouto had gotten during the fights. "I guess we match now, huh?"

Hiro felt his heart clench at his niisan's words. They both had scars from dealing with their pain in bad ways, but the guilt of knowing that he'd caused Tadashi's crushed him. He couldn't help himself as he slowly reached out and caressed the red lines. "Can we…can we do something fun?" Hiro eventually asked, trying to push away the dark thoughts. "Like, maybe build something?"

Tadashi can't help but smile as he feels the pain inside continuing to slowly but surely lessen. "Sure," he agrees with a warm smile. "But, first..." he gently takes his otouto's hand in his, "-let's get you cleaned up, 'kay?"

"Okay," Hiro agreed, allowing his niisan to lead him over to the bathroom. Almost immediately the older boy started to clean his cuts, and the younger silently watched as his brother tenderly cleaned each cut and carefully bandaged them. "I can do that you know..." Hiro awkwardly mumbled, feeling slightly undeserving of the warm looks his niisan was giving him as he worked.

"Just…let me do this, okay?" Tadashi responds with a slight smile as he continues to work. Honestly, right now he needs to be able to feel like he's doing _something_ to help his little brother safe, even if it's just patching him back up. It's funny a funny thing, being completely broken down-as painful as it sounds, sometimes it takes getting to that point to really be able to find who you really are and what's actually important. In Tadashi's case, both answers involve Hiro, and he couldn't have felt happier than he is at that moment just taking care of his otouto/musuko.

"So, what sort of invention were you thinking of?" he asks about a minute later, realizing that he should probably keep the conversation going to keep his brother's mind off of the slight stinging sensation of the antiseptic while he works.

Hiro frowned slightly at the older boy's response, but after some thought, he replied, "Well…I overheard Aunt Cass the other day saying how she wished she could see Mochi as a kitten again because he was so cute, and I got thinking, what if we could make something that temporarily turned someone back into a kid, or baby animal? It would be so fun seeing your pets as babies again, don't you think?"

"That would be really cute!" Tadashi agrees with a grin, glad to have something positive to think about as he moves on to trying to finger-comb out the mess that was his brother's hair. "I think you mentioned that idea once before, and, honestly, it might be just what we need to help things level out after these crazy last couple of days. Maybe we could even do it as a sort of surprise for Aunt Cass for when she gets home."

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, glad his niisan was for the idea. He wanted to get up and get to work right away, but he was also really enjoying feeling his brother's fingers running through his hair. Maybe he could sit here for just a few more minutes...

Honestly, Tadashi can see that his otouto wants to get up, but he can't resist continuing on for another minute or two. Seriously, playing with his brother's hair is always so comforting... (He swears that angel feathers must feel like this.) Finally he forces himself to stop, hating to do so but not wanting to push Hiro's patience when they'd just barely gotten onto level ground again. "Okay, lead the way," he tells his otouto with a warm smile, inviting him to take the lead on their latest project.

Hiro sighed when his brother stopped combing his hair, but stood up and led his niisan down into the garage. Grabbing a notebook off of the shelf, he sits down to quickly sketch out a few ideas before getting started. After putting together some blueprints for the machine, he hands the designs over to his brother and asks, "How does this look?"

"It looks... amazing, as usual," Tadashi replies with a half grin after glancing over the plans. He ruffles his otouto's hair in a proud way. "Seriously, I still can't get over how amazing you are at figuring all of this stuff out so quickly!"

"Well I'm glad you think so," Hiro mumbled blushing slightly and getting to work on the machine with his brother, the pair falling into sync passing tools and materials wordlessly.

Tadashi does what he can to help with the project, although to be honest the more complex pieces he has to leave to Hiro. More and more often of late on their projects he was finding that his otouto's designs were getting beyond even his understanding. He couldn't help but feel proud of his little brother, but he was also a little worried that he was starting to outgrow him. But no, he couldn't think like that. He shakes his head to clear away the thoughts. The two of them were a team and that's never going to change. After about a good hour's worth of work, they've got the project almost completed. "Well, just a few finishing touches should do it," the elder Hamada says, stretching and smiling.

"Right!" Hiro tightened the last screw on the device and then declared, "I'll get Mochi!" It took a bit to actually catch the feisty feline (he was still pretty upset about the whole rocket boot incident), but once he'd finally caught him, the teen set him down on the floor in front of the machine and asked, "You ready to try this bad boy out?"

"Hopefully he'll actually stay still long enough for this to work," Tadashi chuckles, heading to adjust the controls on their latest invention. "Let's see-probably we should set this for 'toddler', since I don't think either of us one to deal with a pre-litter box trained Mochi. But how long should we make it last for-just the evening?" He's about to set the dial, then hesitates and ponders aloud, "Or wait, should we just set it for the next three days so that he'll still be like that when Aunt Cass arrives? Somehow I get the feeling we're going to have a hard time getting him to cooperate with us twice on this thing."

"I say three days!" Hiro agreed, grinning madly. "Aunt Cass will love this!" The elder Hamada nodded and set the timer while the younger got Mochi settled. Once he was sure that the cat would stay in place, the teen ran to the other side of the room where his brother was so he'd be safely out of range. Their feline, however, seemed to have other plans, because at last moment he stood and started to run off.

"Mochi, no!" Hiro shouted in frustration, running after the cat. Unfortunately, he passed in front of the machine just as it went off, causing the ray to hit him instead of Mochi. The teen felt an odd sensation, as if he were somehow being shrunk, and then darkness consumed him.

"HIRO! NO!" Tadashi doesn't even have a chance to try to stop his little brother from chasing after the wayward feline before the blast from their device momentarily blinds him and the subsequent backlash knocks him to the ground. As soon as he can see again, though, he's instantly on his feet and rushing across the room to check on his little brother. The sight that confronts him, though, is enough to stop him dead in his tracks.

"Oh my gosh... H-Hiro?" he finally manages to get out, dropping to his knees next to his otouto-or, what was left of him. His little brother had been significantly shrunk, or, maybe more appropriately, de-aged to the state of a toddler. But that wasn't what had the elder Hamada worried. Oh no. What was tearing at the inside of his heart was the fact that the boy wasn't moving-wasn't even letting out any tiny moans or cries after the transformation. He just lay very, very still on the floor, his tiny eyes squeezed shut, not a sign of life in him.

"N-no..." Tadashi whispers, reaching down and scooping up the tiny form into his arms. Tears start to course down his cheeks as he hugs the small body to his chest "No! Hiro, please-please don't leave me! Don't-don't do this to me, otouto..." He brushes few stray strands of hair off of Hiro's face and plants a shaky kiss on his forehead. "P-please, _musuko_...I-I need you..."

When Hiro came to, the first thing he noticed was that someone was cradling him and gently rocking him in their arms. The next thing was that tears were hitting his face. Why were the person crying? Had he do something to upset them? The little boy let out a weak groan and slowly opened his eyes, only to find out that he couldn't see who was holding him from being pressed against their chest.

"Why-why are you sad?" he finally managed to ask.

"Oh my gosh, Hiro?!" Tadashi lets out a cry, half sob, half grateful prayer that his little brother was still alive. He loosens his grip on the boy, not by much, but enough so that he can actually look down into that adorable face. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asks, anxiously smoothing back the younger's raven locks and starting to check him over for any signs of physical injury that might have occurred due to the blast. Honestly, it was sort of hard since the poor little guy was absolutely swimming in the t shirt that was now much too large for him, but, to Tadashi's relief, he seemed to be fine.

"I'm ok daddy," Hiro whispered, happy to see his papa there caring for him. If papa was there, nothing bad could happen. As hard as he tried though, he couldn't remember what had happened or why he was waking up in papa's arm. "What happened? Why are you crying?" he asked, reaching up to wipe away a tear like papa always did whenever he was sad.

"Da-?" Tadashi's eyes go wide as he stares down at the little boy. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Hiro thought that he was his dad?! This wasn't a good thing by any standards! Had the little boy suffered a concussion? "H-Hiro, you know who I am, right?" he asks slowly. "I-it's me, Dashi."

"I know your name's Dashi," Hiro giggled. Why was papa being so silly? "You're my papa!"

"But Hiro, I'm not your-" Tadashi starts to protest, but then he looks down into those big, trusting brown eyes and he can't bring himself to say it. As it is, his mind's working overtime to try to figure what might have caused his brother to be under the impression that he was his dad, and then suddenly it hits him. When the boy had been little, he was all the time calling his older brother "daddy" since he was pretty much the only paternal figure in his life. Having been returned to that state, the younger's mind had apparently gone back to that idea as well. Back when they'd been kids, the elder had fought that notion tooth and nail, not wanting the boy to get confused and himself feeling too young and inexperienced to be able to fill that role. But now...

Tadashi looks back down at the little boy in his arms. Honestly, Hiro was only going to be stuck like this for a few days (he'd already ruled out the possibility of trying to figure out how to reverse these effects—only his otouto could figure out how to modify the machine, and they hadn't built in an aging feature.) Add to that the fact that he had just finally reached a point of acceptance about having fatherly feelings towards his little brother-would it really be such a bad thing to go along with this? Honestly, he didn't want to know what negative psychological side effects there might be if he tried to forcefully reason Hiro out of this notion. And as for what might happen afterwards when the de-aging wore off and his otouto was back to normal...? Well, he'd deal with that when the time came.

Feeling a joy like he'd never known before filling his heart, Tadashi wraps his arms tighter around the little boy and cradles him close to his chest. Then he says softly into his ear, "Okay, Hiro-I'll be your Papa. And I promise, I'll be the best one ever!"

"You already are the best daddy ever!" Hiro exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his papa. "I love you!" He had to be the best papa in the entire world, maybe even the entire universe! He gave Hiro hugs and kisses and made all his owies feel better. He loved his daddy more than anything, even gummy bears, and he hoped that he knew how much he loved him. He kissed his Papa's check and then buried his face into his daddy's neck, sighing contently.

Oh gosh... This... This was Heaven on Earth, right here in this moment. Tadashi honestly could have died quite happily on the spot, some need that he hadn't even realized that he'd had being filled with that one tiny gesture. Finally he realizes that he needs to answer the little boy, and he manages to stammer out, "I-I love you too, buddy."

Hiro loved to cuddle his daddy, he always gave the best hugs! Then he let out a small yawn, snuggling closer to his papa. He was warm and so comfy. Maybe his daddy would keep cuddling him until he fell asleep.

"I love you more..." the little boy sleepily mumbled, letting out a content sigh when he felt papa's grip tighten around him, cradling him.

"And I love you most," Tadashi finishes with a warm smile. He can tell that Hiro's getting tired-he can't really blame him considering what the poor kid had just gone through-but just as he's about to let the little guy drift off in his arms, he realizes that neither of them had eaten anything since that morning and, since he was trying to be a responsible parent, he needs to take care of that before letting the little boy go to sleep for the evening. "Hey," he says softly, gently tickling the child underneath his chin to get his attention. "You hungry, buddy? Do you want some dinner?"

"Mmhm..." Hiro mumbled, sleepily nodding into Papa's neck. He was hungry, but he was also really sleepy... maybe daddy would keep cuddling while they got some dinner, though.

"What are you hungry for?" Tadashi asks with a smile, getting to his feet and enjoying the feeling of having the little boy cuddled up in his arms. Honestly, he couldn't believe just how _right_ all of this felt. A part of him wishes that somehow he actually could be Hiro's actual dad, both now and always. But hey, he's going to enjoy the time that he has with the toddler now, and let the future work itself.

"Grilled cheese and gummy bears!" Hiro sleepily declared. Papa was such a good cook that he could make just about anything and he'd eat it, though.

"Grilled cheese and gummy bears it is then," Tadashi agrees, chuckling slightly at the choice as he carries the younger back into the house. Hiro's tastes honestly hadn't changed that much over the years-he still ate like a little kid, even as a teenager-but the older boy wasn't about to deny him the simple pleasure of some good old fashioned comfort food.

"Thanks daddy..." Hiro whispered, snuggling up against his papa contently.

"You're welcome, _musuko_ ," Tadashi answers, smoothing down the boy's hair and silently thrilling at the fact that he could finally call Hiro by that name without having to worry about the negative consequences of it.

Hiro hummed contently, his stomach growling when he started to smell the food cooking.

"Almost done," Tadashi tells the little boy a few minutes later when he has the two sandwiches close to the proper combination of lightly crisped on the outside and deliciously gooey on the inside. Honestly, he'd had a hard time convincing himself to let Hiro go, so he'd resorted to the chair method again, letting the little boy rest on his lap and holding him with one arm while using the other to assemble the food and then to actually cook it.

Hiro tiredly started eating his sandwich once it was ready, getting comfortable on his papa's lap. Papa always made the best sandwiches ever! When the toddler was about halfway done with his sandwich, though, he felt his eyes start to grow heavy. Too tired to stay awake, he set his food down and instead started cuddling with papa, letting his eyes drift shut.

Aw... The elder Hamada smiles down at the sleepy little boy. He was too tired even to finish his sandwich! Well, that was alright-at least he'd gotten something into his system so Tadashi didn't have to feel like he was doing a terrible job on his first night as a father. He carefully places the unfinished sandwich back into the now cooled frying pan, deciding that he'd refrigerate it later in case Hiro happened to become more alert and was hungry. Then he quickly finishes off his own food while trying to figure out what his next move should be. Part of him said that he should really be getting the toddler to bed if he was so tired, and another part said that he needed to get the house at least somewhat cleaned up considering the number of messes that had been made so far over the course of the weekend. He didn't like the idea of leaving his otouto alone in his current vulnerable state, though (especially as nightmare prone as the boy had been when he was little), so, after thinking the problem over for a few minutes, he carefully removes his sweater and bundles his musuko up in it, moving two chairs together to form a makeshift bed while he tries to at the very least to get the night's dishes done.

Hiro distantly felt him being picked up and bundled up before being gently set back down. He let out a small whine when he felt papa leave. Why wasn't papa staying with him?

Augh, no! As soon as he hears the toddler's whimpers, Tadashi's instantly back across the room and scooping the boy up into his arms. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he says soothingly, gently rocking him back and forth. "It's okay, I'm right here. Dashi's here."

Hiro let out a content sigh once he was back in papa's arms, snuggling up against him. He wanted to stay with papa forever. He was so warm and comfy... The toddler felt himself drift off once more to the soothing sound of papa's voice.

Tadashi has to wrestle with himself for a moment-on one hand, he does technically need to get the housework done. On the other hand, he really, really doesn't want poor Hiro to wake back up and be upset again. It doesn't seem fair, especially after everything the poor kid just been through. Well, the elder boy decides after a minute, maybe he can take him upstairs and tuck him in, and then once he's sure that the toddler's sound asleep he can sneak back downstairs and do some cleaning. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Cradling the little boy close to his chest, he climbs the stairs to their bedroom. Once there, though, instead of heading to Hiro's bed, he heads over to his own cordoned off part of the room and sits down on the bed. Honestly, Hiro will probably be a lot more comfortable here, and Tadashi will feel safer knowing that his otouto's close during the night. Carefully he tries to pry his musuko's fingers off of his arm, but the little boy has a pretty firm grip on him. Chuckling lightly, the elder boy fully swings himself up onto the bad, deciding to just wait until the toddler's fallen further asleep and naturally lets go. Oh gosh... He leans his head back against the headboard. He hadn't realized just how tired he was from all of the day's events until now. Feeling the exhaustion washing over him, he decides that it wouldn't hurt to just close his eyes for a few minutes until the boy loosens his grip. Just a few minutes... The last thing he remembers is the feeling of little Hiro nuzzling into his chest, and then the world going peacefully black.


	17. Chapter 17

Hiro wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep when he awoke tightly wrapped in his papa's arms. He glanced over to see that his daddy was still sleeping soundly, and so he tried to keep still so he wouldn't wake him up. Papa worked so hard, he deserved to get some sleep. Very quickly, though, the toddler grew restless and carefully crawled out of papa's arms to find something to entertain himself with. He started opening drawers at papa's desk to find some paper so he could draw something. Instead, though, he found papa's old glasses. Giggling, the boy slipped them on and ran over to a mirror. He was a nerd, just like papa!

Tadashi awoke a little while later, his brain still a little fuzzy after sleeping so deeply but feeling a lot better now that his exhausted body had finally had a chance to get some rest. He yawns slightly, blinking slightly in the early morning sunlight. As he sits up, he wonders why something feels like it's missing. Had he fallen asleep with Mochi on his chest and that's why he felt so oddly light? Then suddenly the memories of the night before come back to him and he feels an intense spark of fear. Wait, where was Hiro? The last time Tadashi had seen him, he had been snuggled up in his arms, but now the little boy wasn't in the bed or anywhere in the surrounding area. "Hiro?" Tadashi cries, scrambling up out of the bed. Stupid, how could he have fallen asleep?! The little boy could be hurt, or worse, by now! He had to find him!

Hiro, meanwhile, continued to look for stuff he could wear so he could be a nerd just like papa. He soon found a blazer that his daddy loved and even found the hat that he wore almost every day and put them on. As he continued to look for more "nerd clothes", though, he heard his dad shouting for him, and so he called, "I'm in here, papa!"

"Hiro!" Tadashi cries in relief, hurrying over to the little bundle of clothes on the ground. He lifts the blazer and cap aside to reveal the little boy, who was sporting a rather oversized pair of glasses-his spare pair, he realized after a moment's confusion.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" the young man laughs, scooping the little boy up into his arms and carefully removing the spectacles. "What were you doing?"

"I was dressing up as a nerd like you, daddy!" the toddler giggled. "Do I look good?"

Tadashi has to quickly fight back the urge to seriously freak out over the sheer adorableness of the moment. Okay, so yes, Hiro had just called him a nerd, but that was fairly common. But the fact that the little boy had just admitted to wanting to look like a nerd and, even more so, that he wanted to look like his otousan was enough to seriously melt Tadashi's heart. "You look wonderful," he finally manages to get out, gently kissing the top of his musuko's head. "You're daddy's little nerd."

"I'm a nerd!" Hiro cheered, laughing. "We're both nerds!"

"Yes, yes we are," Tadashi agrees, trying not to grin like an idiot. Then, feeling silly, he blows a raspberry on the little boy's stomach before asking, "So, is my little nerd ready for breakfast?"

Hiro giggled and said, "Yes! Can we have gummy bears?"

"Um... maybe not right now," Tadashi says, giving his son an apologetic grin. Honestly, he'd been letting the whole gummy bears making their way into every meal thing slide for a little too long. "Um, but maybe we can have blueberry muffins?" he tries, hoping that will satisfy the little boy's sweet tooth.

Hiro pouted but, realizing that papa wouldn't budge on this, agreed, "Okay! I like muffins."

"Great!" Tadashi feels relieved, glad that the toddler wasn't going to put up a fuss. "We'll have gummy bears with lunch, okay?"

"Yay!" Hiro cheered "Thank you, daddy! I love you!"

And there was the heart melting again. "I love you too, buddy," Tadashi says, hugging the little boy closer as he starts carrying him down the stairs. In the kitchen, he settles the toddler on the counter with some crayons and a sheet of paper that he finds in the junk drawer to keep him occupied while he starts gathering supplies for their breakfast. As he starts to set the temperature on the oven, though, he's slightly startled as he realizes just how late it was.

"Criminy, it's already 11?" he cries quietly and then lets out a tiny sigh. "Well, too late for getting to church this morning," he says in defeat after a moment, hating the fact that he'd totally forgotten to set his alarm the night before. But, as he thinks it over, he realizes that maybe actually going out to church may not have been the best idea anyways. After all, how would he have explained to everyone the reason for why Hiro was suddenly a toddler? He debates the problem in his head while he works, and then smiles slightly as he remembers what Aunt Cass would always do for them they were little and one of them had been too sick to go. She'd come into their room and read them a Bible story, and, honestly, that actually would probably be just perfect for the little boy since he wasn't really old enough to understand anything much more than that.

"Hey, bud, how do you feel about doing house church today?" he asks, offering his son a smile and feeling glad that he'd found a solution.

Hiro looked up at papa and exclaimed, "You'll tell me a story?" He loved it when papa told him stories-he made them so fun to listen to! "Can you tell the one with the big zoo on the boat?" he begs.

"All right," Tadashi agrees, grinning at the toddler's enthusiasm and beginning to tell the story as he mixes ingredients in the bowl. "A long, long time ago, there was a man named Noah. Noah lived with his wife, and his three sons and their wives. One day, because the world had become a very, very dark and evil place, God looked down from Heaven and decided that He needed to keep things from getting any worse and that, as hard as it was, He needed to get rid of everything and start things over fresh. But He didn't want to destroy everything, and He decided that He would keep Noah and his family alive because He loved Noah and Noah loved Him and did what God asked him to. Now, can you remember what God told Noah to do so he could keep his family safe?"

"Ummm..." Hiro shut his eyes, thinking hard. "He told him to build a ginormous boat so he could make a zoo inside!" he proudly declared a moment later, grinning

"Well, close enough," Tadashi agrees with a slight laugh. "God told Noah to bring two of every type of animal onto the boat, a mommy and a daddy, so they could have babies and we would still have all of the animals. When the time for the flood came, God had Noah and his family and all of the animals go into the boat, and He shut the door to keep them safe. Then it started raining really hard and water came bursting up out of the ground, and the whole Earth was filled with water!" He makes "swooshing" noises and waving his arms around to illustrate for Hiro's benefit.

The toddler giggled at papa's silly noises and started waving his arms around as well, shouting, "BOOM!"

"Exactly," Tadashi agrees, trying not to show just how adorable he was finding the little boy's reaction. "And that went on for forty days and forty nights. Then it stopped, and slowly but surely the water started to go back down. Noah sent out a raven, to see if it was dry enough to leave the ark yet, but the raven just kept flying around because it couldn't find a dry spot to land. And so he tried sending out a dove, but the first time he did it came back because there was still too much water for it to be able to find a place to land. A little while later, he sent the dove out again, and this time it came back with a branch, which told Noah that plants were starting to grow again. And then he sent the bird out one last time, and this time the dove didn't come back because it had found a place to live. But Noah and his family still had to wait a while longer to leave the ark because the Earth was still very, very wet." Trying to think of an example his son would understand, he adds, "Sort of like when it rains and it's all muddy in the park and we almost lose our shoes 'cause they get stuck in the mud? Imagine if it was like that everywhere, and people were sinking down into it. 'Help, I'm stuck!'" He pretends to be someone who's sunk up to their waist in wet dirt.

Hiro giggled at papa's silliness and said, "But the sun made the land come back and they all lived happily ever after!"

"Yep, that's exactly right," Tadashi agrees, gently "booping" Hiro on the nose as he opens the oven door to put the muffin tin in. "God took care of Noah and his family because they loved Him. And what can we learn from that story?" A teacher at heart, he can't resist trying to make sure that the little boy had actually gotten something from it-after all, that was the purpose of retelling the accounts in the Bible, wasn't it?

Hiro giggled and thought hard about what papa had said. "Well... God takes care of us!"

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, smiling as he realizes just how many times that had been shown to be true over the last few days-from the escape from the kaiju in the lake, to Hiro's finally finding a safe place at school, to the appearance of the three Pride siblings just when they were most needed at the convention, to just the fact that the two brothers had finally started rebuilding their relationship. Sure, it had all been crazy and it certainly wasn't how the young man would have planned it all, but, honestly, it had probably been some of the best four days of his life.

Hiro smiled at his papa and started to draw the zoo that was on a boat. He loved all the different animals, like the kittens and monkeys and doggies. Once he was finished, he proudly help up the picture and exclaimed, "Look ,papa! I drawed the zoo on the boat!"

"Wow, that's great, bud!" Tadashi praises him, loving every adorable detail of the drawing.

"It's for you!" Hiro declared, a huge grin spreading across his face. He wanted to make papa happy like he always made him.

"Oh my gosh, r-realy?" Tadashi manages to stumble out the words as a huge grin crosses his face. "Hiro, thank you!" He hugs the little boy close. "I'll treasure this always."

"You're welcome, daddy!" Hiro exclaimed, snuggling up against his papa.

Tadashi grins slightly as he feels the toddler nuzzling up against him-honestly, he was never going to get tired of this. Then his face lights up as an idea comes to him. "Hey, Hiro," he says, gently moving the little boy so that they could be looking at each other. "How would you like to be like Noah and go see some animals today?"

"Can we go to a zoo on a big boat?" Hiro asked, bouncing in papa's lap.

"Well, maybe not one on a boat," Tadashi says with a slight smile as the timer on the oven starts going off for the muffins. "But how would you like to go to the regular zoo?"

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed, watching in excitement as his daddy pulled out the muffins

"Great!" Tadashi grins. "Then we'll go as soon as we've finished breakfast."

"Yay! Can I have a muffin?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi answers, heading over to the cutlery drawer to grab a knife to loosen the muffins with. "Be careful, it's still hot," he warns his musuko as he pulls one out and hands it to him, wrapping it in a paper towel to help keep it from scalding the little boy's fingers.

"Thank you, daddy!" Hiro thanked him, carefully pulling a piece off the muffin and gently blowing on it to cool it off before putting it in his mouth. "Mmmmmhhhh" he sighed with pleasure, closing his eyes as he savored the bite. "Yummy!" he cried after a moment.

"I'm glad you think so," Tadashi says, smiling at that fact that the little boy's actually enjoying the food. As a teenager, Hiro almost never outright admitted to liking the elder Hamada's cooking-even insulting it on occasion-so it was encouraging to know that he apparently did like it.

"I love your cooking!" Hiro declared, taking another bite off of it.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate that," Tadashi responds with a slight grin, stroking the toddler's little cheek gently before beginning on his own breakfast.

"It's the truth!" Hiro exclaimed happily, taking another bite out of the muffin. "Almost as good as grandma's!" he added with his mouth still full.

Tadashi has to shove a hand over his mouth to keep from spewing muffin at the "grandma" comment. "Um, hey, buddy?" he finally manages to get out after taking a moment to calm himself down. "Maybe it's best if you don't go calling Aunt Cass that."

"Why not?" Hiro innocently asked. "You're my daddy, and she's your mommy, so she's my grandma." He replied, confused.

"Well, remember that Aunt Cass is my aunt, not my actual mom," Tadashi tells him, trying to think of how to explain this without either deconstructing the little boy's fantasy world or causing problems if their aunt called. "So, technically, she's your great aunt, and my real mom would be your grandma." He mentally sends an apology to his and Hiro's deceased parents in Heaven, hoping that they'll forgive him for stretching things like this.

"Oh..." Hiro dejectedly mumbled before perking up. "Can I call her aunty at least?"

"I think she'd like that," Tadashi responds, giving the little boy a smile and glad that, at least for the moment, the problem had been solved.

"Yay!" Hiro exclaimed, taking another bite out of his muffin. "Will Aunty be coming with us to the zoo?"

Tadashi gives Hiro a half-smile. Gosh, this whole age changing thing had really done a number on the little guy's memory! "Sorry buddy, I don't think so. She's on a trip right now," he explains.

"Oh, ok," Hiro replied frowning slightly before instantly perking up. "I get to spend the whole day with you, though, right? Just the two of us?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, seriously looking forward to the prospect himself. Then, looking down at the little boy who was still dressed in the oversized t-shirt from the night before, he adds with a slight laugh, "But, before we go anywhere, I think we need to get you dressed for the day!"

"Why?" Hiro asked, looking down at his shirt (or, rather, papa's shirt. It was much too large to be one of his own.) "I like it."

"Well, as adorable as it is, we don't want the other parents at the zoo to be worried that I'm not properly taking care of you," Tadashi explains gently. "And besides, I don't want you to end up tripping and hurting yourself!"

"Ok..." Hiro sighed before adding, "I just want to be able to stay with you forever and ever!"

"And I want you to be able to stay with me forever and ever," Tadashi answers, picking the little boy up and hugging him close. Honestly, he would do _anything_ to keep him and Hiro together.

The toddler giggled and hugged daddy back, snuggling up against him and sighing contently. He would love it if it could just be him and daddy forever and no one else. No one would get between them.

Tadashi lets himself just enjoy the feeling of cuddling with his musuko for a minute, but then his brain turns to the problem of actually finding clothes that would fit the toddler in his current form. After a minute's consideration, he decides that the best route to go would to be to dig through the attic for the boxes of clothes that the boys had outgrown (Aunt Cass was too sentimental to throw anything away) to see if he could find something. "Hey, Hiro, if I left you here for a few minutes on your own, would you be okay?" Tadashi asks the little boy, hating the idea of having to part with him for even a tiny bit but knowing that the attic probably wasn't the safest place in the world for the toddler.

"Ok…" Hiro mumbled, reluctantly letting go of his papa. "You'll come right back… right?" he asked, suddenly filled with the irrational fear that his daddy would leave and never come back.

For some reason, hearing the slight note of fear in the toddler's voice gives Tadashi an odd feeling-almost like a premonition of something bad to come. But no, that's ridiculous. How could things for wrong when he was just going up to the attic? Still, he kneels down in front of his son and, taking the tiny hands in his, says, "Hiro, I promise, no matter what happens, I will always, _always_ find a way to get back to you. I don't care what it takes, there's nothing that can come between us." He reaches up to gently tuck a loose strand of hair behind his musuko's ear. "Okay?"

"Okay..." Hiro agreed, balancing on his toes so he could kiss his papa's nose. If daddy promised, he would keep it. Because daddy never broke a promise. Ever.

Tadashi practically melts under the kiss-seriously, Hiro always knows exactly what to do to turn him into a pile of mush-and he can't help but pull the little boy in for another hug, wanting to let his _musuko_ know that everything was going to be alright, despite both of their irrational fears.

Hiro hoped that he made papa happy. He always made him smile, so he wanted to make papa smile too. He was the best daddy in the entire universe and so the little boy would give him all the hugs and kisses in the world if it made him smile.

Tadashi almost can't let the toddler go, but he forces himself to do so. "All right, I'll be right back, okay buddy?" he says, gently ruffling his musuko's hair to hopefully help make the parting (short as it was going to be) easier. Seriously, this shouldn't be this hard. He's just going up to the attic-it's not like he's running into a burning building or something else dangerous.

"Ok!" Hiro cheerfully replied, grabbing another piece of paper to make another drawing while he waited. Maybe daddy would like this one as much as his other one!

"Okay, see you in a few minutes," Tadashi reassures the little boy, giving his hand one last quick squeeze. Then he heads back out into the hall and climbs the stairs until he reaches the passageway where the door to the attic is. He reaches up and pulls the cord to release the stairs. When the ceiling panel comes open, he coughs as a small cloud of dust comes drifting down. Gosh sakes, it had been a long time since anyone had been up there! Shaking his head to clear away the puff of powder, he mounts the stairs until he finds himself in the dark little upstairs room. He can't help but smile slightly as he looks around-there were so many memories held in this place! Carefully he picks his way through the piles of relics, trying to locate the boxes of clothes from his and Hiro's childhood. Eventually, right near the back he finds a few plastic crates and through the clear sides he can see bundles of fabric. Grinning victoriously, he pulls the lid off of the top one. It was a virtual goldmine of children's garments. Quickly he starts sorting through the articles of clothes, trying to find some that might fit Hiro in his current state. He soon finds a little blue t-shirt and red shorts that look like they'll do the trick. Then, before closing the crate, he has the foresight to grab a couple of spare changes, including pajamas-enough to last the toddler the next couple of days and a couple of extra changes in case of any messes that might happen. "Seriously," he can't help but think with a smile, "there are enough clothes here that Hiro could go back through his whole childhood and we'd never have to get anything new!" He freezes slightly as that thought fully registers in his head. Letting Hiro go back through his childhood...

The tantalizing idea hangs there in the dusty attic air, and for a moment he wants to reach out and grab hold of it. But then he catches sight of an old portrait of his parents leaning up against the wall, and he guiltily ducks his head. No, he can't go there. He hurries over to opening in the attic floor, wanting to get out of there before his thoughts can take him somewhere they really shouldn't.

As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly becomes aware of the sound of someone crying. Hiro! A slight panic filling his chest, he races down the stairs back to the kitchen. He's going so fast that he almost slides right past the door, but catches himself last minute on the frame and manages to stumble inside. " _Musuko_!" he cries, his heart going a million miles an hour. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Hiro had contently started drawing some more once daddy had left, knowing that he'd be back soon. Not long after papa had left, though, he'd heard crashing sounds like someone was falling.

"Daddy?" Hiro shouted, only to receive no answer. Terrified that his papa had been hurt, or worse, Hiro had started crying until he finally heard his daddy calling out to him, asking him what was wrong. He flung himself into papa's arms and stammered, "I h-heard crashing, and I t-thought you were hurt and you didn't answer...a-a-and... I-I d-didn't know what to do..."

"No, no, I'm perfectly fine!" Tadashi reassures the little boy, feeling extremely guilty for leaving him alone now and hugging him tight to his chest. "Didn't I tell you I was going to be careful? I'd never do anything that would cause me to have to leave you!"

"I know you promised, but I thought you got hurt..." Hiro mumbled, now feeling silly. "I'm sorry, daddy..."

"No, don't be sorry," Tadashi says quickly, hugging the toddler even closer and feeling an overwhelming flood of paternal feeling towards the little boy. "I'm sorry that I ended up scaring you like that!"

"I'm happy you're not hurt..." Hiro mumbled, sniffling.

"So am I," Tadashi agrees with a slight chuckle, kissing his _musuko_ on the top of his head and wiping away the boy's tears. "Now, how's about we get you dressed so we can get heading out to the zoo?"

"The zoo!" Hiro exclaimed, his eyes lighting up and his previous fear forgotten. "Come on, come on!" he exclaimed, tugging on daddy's hand. He couldn't wait to see all the animals!

"Okay," Tadashi agrees, chuckling slightly at how quickly the little guy had bounced back. He brings the little boy over to the table and, after pulling the oversized tshirt off over his head, he starts dressing the little boy in the smaller and more size-appropriate clothing. Honestly, the toddler is squirming like a fish, obviously impatient to head out, but it's still an overall fun experience-he still can't get over how adorably tiny the boy is.

Hiro excitedly bounced as papa got him dressed. He couldn't wait to get to the zoo! He really wanted to see all of the animals. "Do you think we'll see monkeys?" Hiro asked excitedly. "And kittens?"

Tadashi smiles at his enthusiasm. "Well, we'll definitely see monkeys," he answers, ruffling the boy's hair as he finishes dressing him. "I'm not sure about kittens, but there might be some in the petting zoo. If nothing else, we can play with Mochi when we get home, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed. "Come on, let's go!" he started tugging on his daddy's arm again, unable to wait until they got there.

"Whoa, hold on!" Tadashi laughs. "Give Papa two seconds to go grab his bag from our room, and then we can go, okay?" It was his first time after that initial emotional moment in the garage that he'd actually referred to himself out loud as the boy's papa, and he loves the way it rolls so easily off of his tongue.

"Ok!" Hiro exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"I'll be right back then." Tadashi hurries back up the stairs and into the bedroom. He finds his bag first, but then he also makes sure to grab his belt too. It was the same belt that his father had worn so many years ago and, while it didn't seem like anything special to a casual observer, it held a powerful secret- when used properly, it became a blade of deadly accuracy. He hadn't lied to Hiro a few night ago-he hadn't used a sword in years. But having this on him at all times gave him a sense of security, knowing that he had a way to protect his otouto if anything should happen. As he prepares to head out the door, something else catches his eye-the glasses Hiro had pulled out from the night stand. Tadashi hadn't worn them in years, mainly because back when he'd been in junior high the other kids had laughed at him and said that they made him look like an old man. Now, though, he realizes, it actually might not be such a bad thing to have something to help him look slightly older so that he could have an easier time passing as Hiro's dad. Going into the bathroom, he takes his contacts out and tries the old lenses on. The reflection staring back at him from the mirror definitely looks like someone who could be the father of a little boy, and, if the physical appearance wasn't enough, the slight glow that had overcome his features would definitely prove it. He shakes his head slightly in amazement over how quickly things had changed-going from flat out denying having any fatherly feelings towards Hiro to actually going out into public proudly proclaiming the fact was something he never could have imagined, but he wouldn't have changed any of it for the world.

"All right, _musuko_ ," he says a minute later as he reenters the kitchen." You ready for an adventure?"

"You look like a nerd!" Hiro giggled when he saw papa wearing glasses

"Well, I'm your nerd," Tadashi replies with a smile, unable to keep from using his default reply to what was usually one of his little brother's favorite quips. For a moment, he can't help but miss that tiny bit of sarcasm that he was so used to-but no, he pushes that feeling back down. Right now, he has his time with little Hiro. The older version of Hiro will be back soon enough, and he needs to enjoy this time with his musuko for as long as it lasts.

The toddler giggled and kissed papa's cheek and agreed, "Yes! And I'm your nerd right?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, unable to keep himself from burying his nose in the thick thatch of raven hair just to get the scent of the cherry blossom shampoo Hiro was so partial to. "You're daddy's little nerd."

The little boy giggled and hugged papa back as they headed out the door. He was somewhat surprised, though, when they started walking over towards a moped instead of his daddy's car. "Papa, I thought you got rid of that…" the toddler says in confusion.

That stops Tadashi cold. Wait a second... Why would Hiro have thought that he had gotten rid of Bae? If anything, as a kid, the boy might not have known about the motor scooter, but the other idea that he'd just voiced made absolutely no sense. The only time that the elder Hamada ever remembered a case where his musuko would have thought that he'd replaced Bae... was in the dream he'd had a few nights ago.

A slight panic seizes in Tadashi's chest. Wait, was all of this a dream? But no, in the dream he'd actually thought that he was Hiro's dad, and, besides which, this felt way too real to be a fantasy. Still, he needs to be sure. "Um, Hiro, stay here for just a second, okay?" he says, putting up his hand to signal for the little boy to stay right where he was. Then, without explanation, he rushes around the side of the house and, once out of sight, hurries over to a supporting column where there was exposed brick. Not even stopping to think through his actions, he roll his sleeve back and scrapes his arm, hard, across the rough edge. "Gah!" he mutters quietly, the now slightly torn flesh stinging slightly. On the plus side, though, he now had confirmation—he's definitely awake. For a moment he wonders if it's possible that everything about being Hiro's brother was a dream, if what he'd thought was a reality was the fantasy. But no-the fact that Bae is there tells him that he's definitely in his own version of the world. But how does that explain Hiro's seeming knowledge of the alternate reality? Was it possible? Had they had the same dream? Tadashi had been suspicious ever since that morning when he'd thought Hiro had called him "papa". And then there was the fact that the boy had called Aunt Cass "Grandma" earlier that morning, also just like in the dream. Now this seemed to be the final piece of conclusive evidence. Apparently the toddler's young mind was blending the ideas from the fantasy with his current reality to construct a protective framework that would allow him to keep functioning. Tadashi wasn't sure how he felt about this, but he knew two things: One, that he was going to have to be very, very careful with what he did and said to keep the younger boy from experiencing an entire world collapse, and two... That, if the two brothers had been a part of the same dream, maybe, just maybe, even in his teenage state Hiro saw Tadashi as his father.

Oh, gosh. The young man is floored by the thought. How amazing would that be? He feels a grin starting to creep across his face, but then he shakes his head, bringing himself back to the present. He'd deal with that later-right now he needs to get back to. Rolling his sleeve back down to hide his latest scars, he quickly heads back over to the driveway to find his musuko. Fortunately, it had only taken about thirty seconds for all of these thoughts to race through his mind, so the little boy's only been alone for about a minute by the time he returns.

"Hey, sorry about that," he says, scooping the little boy up into his arms. "I just had to check on something."

"Papa are you ok? I heard you shout..." Hiro asked, worried about papa. Had he said something bad? Was papa upset with him?

"What? Oh, no, I just scraped myself on the wall a little bit," Tadashi explains, hoping that this didn't really count as a lie since it was technically the truth and hating that he'd just done this to himself and Hiro again. "Um, but hey, little guy? There's maybe a thing or two that we need to get straight, okay?" He gets down on his knees so he can be at the toddler's eye level and gently takes one of the boy's hands in his and giving him a warm smile to let him know that he wasn't in trouble. As much as he wants to keep Hiro's fantasy going as much as possible, he's going to need to explain one or two important things to the little boy so that he won't be completely caught off guard when he inevitably hits up against them in the next couple of days.

"Yes, daddy?" Hiro nervously asked. He hated knowing papa was hurt, but he also knew that he wouldn't let him take care of it if he thought it was ok. He just wanted to keep papa safe and happy.

"Um..." Tadashi froze up as soon as he heard that nervous note in the toddler's voice-he didn't want to hurt the little boy in any way or ruin his little fantasy world, so he was going to have to be careful about how he did this. "I guess, first I have a question for you-what exactly do you think daddy does for his job? Like, when I'm gone during the weekdays, where am I at?"

"You work at school!" Hiro exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

"Well, I do go to school," Tadashi agrees gently. "But Hiro, I think you're a little bit confused-I'm not actually working for the school. I'm still a student right now."

"Oh... I'm sorry daddy, I thought you worked there..." Hiro mumbled feeling embarrassed.

"No, no, it's fine!" Tadashi quickly reassures the toddler, hating himself for making the boy feel bad. He didn't need that from his Dashi, of all people. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew because... um, because..." He grasps at straws, trying to think of some way to fix this. Then he hits on an idea and grins as he announces, "Because tomorrow you're coming to school with me!" Turning slightly red as he remembers Hiro's usual aversion to even the mention of the college, he quickly adds, "O-only if you want to, of course."

"I can come to school with you?!" the toddler exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. "First the zoo, then school? This is the best day ever!" He then threw his arms around papa, saying, "Thank you, daddy!"

Tadashi almost cries with joy upon hearing Hiro say that and he wraps his arms tightly around the little boy. His otouto actually wants to go to school with him! A dark, naysayer part of him says that it isn't really Hiro saying this, because his brother would never actually want to go to the university with him. But, another part argues back, the only reason Hiro didn't want to go was because he was so used to being bullied at school, and, if he'd been given the opportunity, he would have been just as excited about SFIT as a teenager as he was now as a toddler. It almost makes Tadashi wish that he could permanently wash away all those years of bullying and abuse, to give the boy a fresh start...

A slight spark in his chest reminds him of what he was thinking in the attic earlier. Technically, there was a way... A way to fix everything. But no. He shakes his head vigorously. He can't think like that! Still, the idea has taken root and it isn't going to be going away that easily, even as he tries to shove it away to the back of his mind where he can't get to it. "All right, so, are we ready to go?" he asks the toddler, putting the brightest smile he can manage onto his face to keep the little boy from wondering what he's thinking about.

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, bounding once again in excitement, "Let's go let's go!" He had the absolute best daddy in the world.

"Okay," Tadashi agrees with a slight chuckle. He gets to his feet and starts to head towards Bae, but then stalls as he realizes that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to take his little musuko out on the motor scooter. So, instead, he turns back around, takes Hiro's hand in his, and starts off towards the streetcar stop.

Giggling, the little boy followed alongside his daddy, carefully jumping over the cracks in the sidewalk. It didn't take long before papa grabbed his hand to have him stop so they could wait for the street car. The toddler huddled closer to daddy. He hated riding the street cars-they were big and crowded and he was terrified he would get lost. But as long as he was with daddy, he would be safe.

Knowing just how easy it was to get lost in the busy streetcars, Tadashi quickly scoops the little boy up into his arms before boarding. It hits him just as the tram starts to pull away from the curb that Hiro isn't wearing anything with one of his gps trackers in it, and he's momentarily horrified by the thought that, if they got separated, the little boy might be lost forever. But then his logical side kicks in and he remembers the fact that he had planned ahead for situations like this. Reaching into his bag, he pulls out his phone and takes off the back cover to reveal a miniature emergency kit: bandaids, antiseptic, a small knife for protection (gosh, just how many blades did he randomly have hidden on his person at all times? he wonders), instant food pellets (a form of nutrition his aunt was completely against, but hey, he put survival over taste), and, exactly what he needed, backup gps trackers in case something happened to one of Hiro's while they were out. Of course, he can't exactly go stitching one in here on the bus-the little boy would be way too squirmy to sit still while he did so-so instead he pulls off the locket that he sometimes wears, which contains pictures both of their parents and of him, Hiro, and Aunt Cass, and puts the tracker inside. "Here, I want you to wear this today," he tells the toddler, slipping the chain over the boy's head. "It's something that will help me find you if you somehow get lost.

"Is it magic?" Hiro asked, eyes widening in excitement as he cradled the locket. Feeling much safer in daddy's arms, he snuggled up against him and tried to relax and enjoy the ride.

"Not exactly," Tadashi answers with a loving laugh. "It's got a little tracker chip in there, and it's linked up to my phone so I can always know where you are."

"Oh..." the toddler mumbled, slightly disappointed it wasn't magical. But at least he knew papa would always be able to find him. "Thanks you, daddy!" he adds brightly.

"Y-you're welcome." Tadashi can't help but feel a warm blush creep into his cheeks, part of him not able to believe that Hiro's actually happy about this. He'd always been afraid to tell him about the trackers, fearing that the boy would think that he was invading his privacy. But at least for now he's happy, so the elder Hamada just focuses his attention on enjoying cuddling the little boy closer.

"Oh my, what an affectionate father!" coos a lady sitting across from them on the streetcar. She looked like she might be a grandmother herself, and she was obviously enjoying watching the two.

"He's the best daddy in the entire universe!" Hiro declared, grinning up at his papa. Then he buried his face in daddy's chest, loving being cuddled like this.

"And you're the best musuko ever," Tadashi responds, hugging the little boy closer and grinning so hard that he swore he couldn't smile any wider.

"It's so nice seeing a father being so invested in the life of their child," the older woman says warmly.

"Well, I try my best," Tadashi answers, ducking his head modestly.

Hiro giggled and snuggled up against papa, sighing contently. "Daddy's taking me to the zoo!" he exclaimed. "So we can see monkeys and kittens and doggies!"

"Oh, now isn't that nice?" the older lady beams. "I remember taking my grandchildren there the last time they visited me. Of course, that was years ago-they live out in New York City, so I don't get to see them that often."

Tadashi doesn't miss the slightly wistful note in the woman's voice. He looks down at the little boy in his arms, and then smiles as an idea comes to him. "Hiro, do you want to do something nice for the lady?" he whispers into the toddler's ear.

"What?" Hiro whispered excitedly.

"Do you think you'd be willing to let her hold you for a little bit?" Tadashi responds quietly. As much as he hates the idea of giving up the boy even for a second, he knows just how therapeutic snuggling with a little kid can be, and the old woman looked like she could use a little sunshine in her life.

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed, reluctantly wiggling out of papa's arms and slowly walking over to the lady. He didn't want to leave papa, but daddy said it would be nice of him to do, and he would do anything papa wanted him to do. "Would you like a hug, ma'am?" he asks politely.

Tadashi can't help but smile as the woman lets out a tiny gasp, covering her mouth with one hand and looking like she was going to start crying. But she finally manages to get out, "Why yes, young man, that would be... just splendid."

Hiro smiled and, climbing into her lap, wrapped his arms around her. "Papa says hugs make everything better!"

"Your father is quite right," the woman replies, gently hugging him back while mouthing a grateful "thank you" to Tadashi. He nods in reply, smiling and glad that they could help. The lady holds the little boy until they reach her bus stop, where she somewhat reluctantly returns the toddler to Tadashi. "You two have made this day one of the most wonderful that I've had in... well, in quite some time," she tells them both with a warm smile. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a small stuffed kitten. "Here, young man," she says, offering it to Hiro. "This belonged to me when I was a little girl, and I'd like for you to have her."

"Oh, ma'am, that's too kind," Tadashi quickly starts to protest. "We couldn't-"

"Please." The woman gives him a friendly but serious look. "Allow me to do this. It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."

Tadashi finally relents, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "Hiro, what do you say?" he asks the little boy.

"Thank you, ma'am..." Hiro mumbled, gently taking the small stuffed toy from the woman. Then he smiled and said, "Look daddy, he looks just like Mochi!"

"That he does," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin. He looks up to thank the old woman, but by then she's gone. He wonders how she'd managed to slip away so quickly, but he decides to just it go, turning his attention back to the adorable boy in his lap.

"Next stop, San Fransokyo Zoo," the tram driver announces a few minutes later.

"Oh, looks like we're here buddy," Tadashi tells Hiro, giving his arm an excited squeeze.

"Yes!" the toddler exclaimed, bouncing in the elder boy's lap. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, daddy!"

"You're welcome, musuko," Tadashi replies, fondly ruffling the little boy's hair and standing up so they can prepare to disembark.

Hiro clung onto papa as they got off the bus and got in line to get their tickets. Though it was fairly late in the day there was still a decently sized line. He stared at the front gates in wonder as papa bought them tickets, unable to contain his excitement.

"All right, we're good to go buddy," Tadashi announces a few minutes later, grinning down at the little boy and slipping the zoo armband onto his wrist.

"Yay!" Hiro exclaimed, staring at the wristband in excitement. Soon they were walking through the front gates and into the zoo, which was even more amazing then he had imagined. "It's so big!"

"It is," Tadashi agrees, unable to keep from feeling a similar sense of awe. He can still remember his first time visiting here-it had been a few months after the accident, and it was one of the first outings that he and Hiro and Aunt Cass had had together as their own little family. He can't help but have a funny feeling as he looks down at the little boy and competing images of how things had been and how things could be now fought for dominance inside his head and heart. Otouto... Musuko... Both things he desperately wanted, but he wasn't sure anymore which one he saw Hiro as-which one was right.

The little boy continued to look around to zoo in awe, oblivious to his papa's conflicting emotions. "Where should we go first?" he asks. There where so many animals he wanted to visit and they didn't have a lot of time to do it all. It was a little overwhelming for the toddler.

"U-um... How about we go find those monkeys you were talking about?" Tadashi responds, forcing a smile onto his face and shoving the conflicting feelings deep down inside. He'd deal with them later. Right now, he needs to enjoy the time that he has with his son.

"Ok!" Hiro exclaimed, starting to tug his daddy down one of the paths before freezing and mumbling, "Umm... I don't know where to go..."

"Well, let's check the map and see," Tadashi answers, chuckling slightly at the little boy's enthusiasm. He grabs a paper map from a nearby stand and consults it. "Looks like it's-that way." He points to a path which would lead them to their desired destination.

Hiro instantly started tugging on daddy's arm again, pulling him in the direction that he had pointed and barely able to contain his excitement. He didn't really even notice the other animals—he was too focused on finding the monkeys.

"Hold on, little guy," Tadashi laughs as they hurry off down the path. "You don't want to end up going so fast that you end up tripping and falling, do you?"

"I won't fall, you'll catch me!" Hiro protested, but he slowed down slightly to please daddy.

"Well, you know that I'll always try my best, but you still need to be careful," Tadashi says, ruffling the boy's hair fondly. "You don't want to end up having to go to the medical tent instead of getting to go see the monkeys, do you?"

"Those tents couldn't take care of me like you could, though!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Very true," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin. "Because your daddy is the best doctor around when it comes to scrapes and bruises, right?"

"Yep! You're the best doctor in the universe!" Hiro declared before spotting the monkey cage. "Look, monkeys!" he cries.

"Yeah, there they are!" Tadashi agrees, smiling as he spots the primates. "Wow, those are a lot of monkeys!" he adds with a slight laugh.

"They're so cute!" Hiro cooed, watching as one of the younger monkeys started swinging on a tree branch.

"That they are," Tadashi answers, picking the little boy up so he can see them better. "Which type is your favorite?"

"Um… I don't know," Hiro admits after a minute. "I like all of them! What's your favorite?"

"Mm…" Tadashi looks around and then points to a fluffy orange primate. "That one—it's called the golden lion tamarin."

"Aww! He's so cute!" Hiro cooed watching the monkey his papa pointed out with interest. After a minute, he suddenly asks, "Do you think the monkeys are happy here?"

Tadashi considers this. "I think so. I mean, they're well taken care of, and they've got plenty of space. Most of them were probably born right here in the zoo, so they're with their families, and besides, it's all the life that they've ever known. Some people might think that they'd be happier out in the wild, and maybe they would be-but, I think, why cause yourself to be unhappy missing something that you can't even remember?" Honestly, by the end, he's not sure if he's more so talking about the monkeys or about Hiro, but he seriously hopes that it's true in both cases.

"Good! The monkeys deserve to be happy!" the toddler exclaimed, giggling as the monkeys started playing.

"Yeah, they do," Tadashi agrees, again feeling mixed feelings about the whole musuko/otouto thing. "Um, Hiro?" he takes the little boy's hand in his own, hoping to focus the little boy's attention. "You're...happy with the way things are right now, right?"

"Yes!" Hiro assured without hesitation. "I love you daddy! I want to stay with you forever!" He loved his daddy more than anything-he didn't want anything to change, ever.

Tadashi gave him a grateful smile. Still, unable to stop himself, he presses on, "So... you wouldn't be happier if, say, I were your older brother instead of your dad?"

"As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy!" Hiro assured before frowning and asking, "Do you—do you not want to be my daddy anymore?"

"No, no!" Tadashi quickly reassures him. "There's nothing I want more than to be your dad! I-I just wanted to make sure that you... Well, that you still wanted me to be your dad-that there wasn't something else that you'd rather me be."

Hiro looked up at his papa and declared, "I don't care who you are, as long as we're together!"

Well, that didn't exactly answer Tadashi's quandry-if anything, it only pushed it further into the grey area-but he decides to put those conflicting feelings away for the moment and to just enjoy spending time with the toddler. "Well, I'm glad that you think so," he says, scooping the little boy up into his arms. "And I hope that you know that I love you no matter what and that I'm never, ever going to leave you. Now, what do you say we go see a few more animals before the zoo closes, huh?"

"I love you too, daddy!" Hiro exclaimed, wrapping his arms around papa. Then he looked across the way and exclaimed, "Look, papa! Kittens!"

Tadashi can't help but grin. The toddler had, of course, managed to find the petting zoo, and, by some great stroke of luck or providence, there was indeed a little pen full of kittens. "Well, let's go say hello then!" he says, carrying the younger boy across the way and over to where the animals are.

Hiro giggled as daddy brought him over to the tiny kittens and exclaimed, "Not those kittens! The big ones, over there!" and pointed to the tiger pens. "Can I pet those?"

"Oh..." Tadashi's eyes go slightly wide, and then he has to chuckle slightly. Of course the toddler would want to play with the baby tigers. He wouldn't be Hiro if he wasn't testing the limits and trying to have some sort of adventure. "Sorry, musuko," he answers after a minute, lovingly tucking a strand of hair behind the little boy's ear. "Those kittens play a little too rough."

"But I'm a big boy, daddy!" Hiro exclaimed. "And they're just kittens! Please!" He pouted at his daddy, hoping to convince him to let him play.

"Well, yes, they are just kittens," Tadashi replies, hating to disappoint the little boy but trying think of how to explain this in a way that he'll understand. "But... these kittens have mommies and daddies who don't understand that people like us who want to play with their babies don't mean them any harm. They can't talk to us, and we can't really talk to them, so even if it was a nice little boy like you who wouldn't hurt a fly, they wouldn't know that you weren't trying to hurt their babies or take them away from them. They'd sort of feel the same way I would if I thought someone was trying to hurt you or take you away from me. You know we'd both do anything to keep that from happening!"

"Oh..." Hiro mumbled. "Well…they're still cute kittens!"

"Yes they are," Tadashi agrees with a smile. "And, even if you can't play with them, would you at least like to go see them?"

"Yes! They're still cute, even if I can't play with them."

"All right then!" Tadashi grins and carries the little boy over to the enclosure, setting him down on the ledge in front of the glass so he can get a good look.

"The kitties are so cute!" Hiro cooed watching as some of the younger tigers played.

"Mm hm!" Tadashi can't get over how adorable the combination of the toddler with the baby tigers was. The miniature wildcats seem to take quite an interest in the little boy, observing the youngster with obvious curiosity. He guesses that both parties were too young to have learned fear of the other yet, and, when one of the felines puts its paw up against the glass right next to Hiro as if in a gesture of friendship, the older Hamada pulls out his phone to quickly snap a photo of the moment of innocence.

The toddler giggled and put his hand on top of where the kitten's paw was, saying, "Do you want to be my friend?"

"I think he does," Tadashi replies with a grin, quickly snapping another shot. Honestly, this was too adorable not to capture for long term memory.

"Hi kitty! We're going to be best friends!"

Tadashi feels somewhat bad upon hearing that, knowing that it's going to be hard for Hiro to become best friends with a tiger. Still, he's not going to crush the little boy's fantasy, and if he has to he will bring him here every day to keep his dream alive. A slight pang hits the elder Hamada as he realizes, though, that that probably won't end up being necessary because in just a couple of days the now-toddler would be going back to normal and there was a chance that he might not even remember this. Dang it, how unfair was that? Seriously, Hiro was so happy now! Why did he have to go back to a life that had treated him so unkindly, to the point that he was even doing his own form of what was essentially self-harm just to get through the day? Although it wasn't conscious, the seed of the idea that had been planted earlier in Tadashi's mind was beginning to spread roots and take hold.

The kitty meowed as it watches the toddler in front of him, pawing at the glass some more. "Look daddy!" Hiro cries. "Kitty wants to play!"

Tadashi grimaces-he seriously wishes that he could find some way for the little boy to safely do that, but he even he, with all of his crazy ideas, knows that it's impossible. "Well, maybe the two of you can play follow the leader," he suggests after a moment, coming up with an at least temporary solution. "See if you can get him to do what you're doing, or maybe you can do whatever he does-just remember, don't tap on the glass, that hurts his ears."

"Ok!" Hiro exclaimed, giggling like mad. "Come on kitty! Follow me!" He started walking around, the kitten excitedly following beside him. "Look! Kitty's playing!"

"That's great, buddy!" Tadashi cheered, glad that his _musuko_ was managing to have so much fun. An unintentional glance backwards shows him that some of other visitors to the zoo had stopped to watch-honestly, it was hard to ignore a kiddo as adorable as Hiro-and he couldn't help but feel a slight pride knowing that the little boy was his.

The toddler laughed and started running, much to the excitement of kitten, who happily chased after him. Very quickly, though Hiro, started to tire out and collapsed next to the glass, laughing between his panting. Kitty sat down in front of the boy, titling it's head slightly as if wondering why he'd stopped.

"I think you wore both of you out," Tadashi says with a sympathetic smile as he sees his musuko drop. He'd forgotten how quickly little kids tired out, but now he scoops the toddler up into his arms, cradling him close to his chest as he adds, "Maybe it's time that I got you home."

Hiro let out a weak yawn and mumbled, "But we just got here..." He didn't want to say goodbye to kitty. They hadn't gotten to play for very long!

Tadashi's about to point out that the little boy's practically starting to fall asleep on his feet, but then some instinct tells him to go with a different tactic. "Well, you don't want your friend to be too tired to play with the other kids who come to visit him, do you?" he asks gently. "That wouldn't be fair to either of them. Besides, you and I both need to conserve our energy if we want me to be able to take you to my school tomorrow!"

Hiro deflated slightly, but he couldn't argue. Kitty should be able to play with lots of other kids and have to fun too. He looked back over at kitten's cage and mumbled, "Bye, Kitty!" tiredly waving back at it.

Tadashi gives the little boy a kiss on the top of his head as he starts to carry him back towards the front of the park. "Thank you, Hiro, that was a very mature response," he tells his musuko, lovingly stroking the toddler's hair. "And, because you did that without me having to even ask you twice, how would you like to get to pick what we have for dinner tonight?"

Hiro snuggled up against his papa, and replied, "Thanks, daddy..."

"Not a problem, _musuko_ ," Tadashi responds tenderly.

Hiro snuggled up against papa as they walked over to the tram station, already feeling exhausted.


	18. Chapter 18

Tadashi can't help but smile as he looks down at the sleepy youngster-the poor thing could barely keep his eyes open! He climbs onto the street car, moving carefully so as not to jostle the boy. Near the back he manages to find a seat where he can allow his _musuko_ to lay down next to him and rest his head on his lap.

Hiro felt himself being laid down with his head placed on papa's lap. He sighed contently and snuggled up against his daddy, clutching the kitten doll to his chest.

Aw! Tadashi can't help but smile as he looks down at the sleepy little boy. Seriously, there was almost nothing he found more comforting than having Hiro curled up next to him, whether as a little boy or a teenager. Something about it just always made him feel like he was actually doing something right for once. When the tram finally pulls up to the stop near their house, he gently gathers the toddler into his arms and carries him out onto the street so they could begin their walk home.

Hiro felt himself being scooped up, so he gratefully snuggled up against the warm chest that cradled him. "Love you, daddy..." he mumbled, weakly gripping the stuffed kitten that the woman had given him.

"I love you too," Tadashi replies, gratefully hugging his _musuko_ all the closer as he continues on his way towards the cafe. They're almost to the house when the older boy realizes that something isn't right. "What the heck?" he mutters as he gets closer and sees that the side door is open. Had he and Hiro accidentally forgotten to close it when they'd left earlier? But then he notices a movement in one of the upstairs windows and he stiffens. Someone had broken in! For a moment he doesn't know what to do-should he call Aunt Cass? The police? That would have been the responsible thing to do. But, unfortunately, as cool headed as Tadashi was, he had the Hamada stubbornness streak, and that meant that if something was wrong or someone had in some way threatened his family, his common sense was overridden and he had the uncontrollable urge to fix problem himself, even if it meant putting himself in danger. Still, even as the generations-old instincts took over, he had enough sense to know that he needed to keep his musuko safe. The garage wasn't easily accessible to by the house-he could lock the door from the inside and know that the thief wouldn't be able to get in should things go wrong. So he heads around to the alley which leads up to the garage and opens the main door.

"Hiro, I've got to go check on something real quick," he says, heading inside and setting the toddler down on the couch. "I'll be right back, but I need you to be a good boy and stay here while I'm gone, okay?"

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled nervously, clutching the kitten doll against his chest. He knew something was wrong-daddy seemed very nervous, and that scared him. "Don't get hurt, please..."

Tadashi went into the house with Hiro's warning ringing in his head-whatever happened, he was going to make sure that he made it back to his _musuko_. But for now, he needs to concentrate on actually finding the intruder. He takes stock of the restaurant as he enters the first floor-the cash register had obviously been broken into, but fortunately Aunt Cass had deposited all but some small bills before leaving on the trip, so no major loss there. From what he'd seen outside, though, the robber hadn't just hit up the cafe-he'd moved on into the main house. Really, if he'd been thinking this through logically, the young man would have known that the best move at this point would be to call the police and let them apprehend the intruder. But he wasn't thinking logically. Someone had invaded his home and, by default, threatened his family. All of his senses on high alert, he stands momentarily still, trying to listen for any sign as to the location of the robber. Steps overhead-the thief was in the living room.

With grim anticipation, Tadashi pulls off his belt and snaps it out into its true form of a katana. Then, moving with practiced stealth, he makes his way up the stairs, making virtually no noise whatsoever. On the landing, he stops-there's the intruder, digging through the drawers of an armoire. The young man's lip curls up in disgust-absolutely pathetic. But he keeps his anger in check-he needs to keep a cool head for this. He makes his way silently across the room, every bit of samurai blood that's in his body coming to the surface as he prepares for the coming encounter. Once he's right behind the thief, he presses the blade of his katana to the back of the robber's neck, not with enough pressure to actually harm him but still enough to show that he means business.

"You know, you're pretty sloppy for a thief," he remarks, a slight sarcasm making its way into his voice even as the rest of his tone speaks of cold fury. "Leaving the door open like that? Rookie mistake. Seriously, were you trying to let the whole neighborhood know that you were breaking in?"

The robber, for his part, had started digging through the cafe shortly after the family left the shop, hoping to get some quick cash. Unable to resist the allure of a bigger score, though, he'd crept up the stairs to see what else he could find that was valuable. He'd almost been done clearing out the living room when suddenly he felt something sharp against his neck. He froze, fear filling him as he hears another man talking- _Shoot, no one was supposed to be home_! If he could get to his gun, though, maybe he could get out of here before any cops showed up.

"Hm, well it was pretty stupid of you to try and fight me!" the man sneered, slowly reaching for his pistol-he couldn't have any witnesses.

"Don't. Even. Think about it." Anticipating this action, with one deft move Tadashi uses the katana to knock the gun away from the man and with another he drives the blade straight through the firearm, breaking it into pieces and making it virtually useless. "You really should have thought twice before messing with this family."

The man froze, unsure what to do now. He had no weapon and no plan. Desperate, he whirled around and swung wildly at the person holding the knife.

Tadashi easily dodges the swing with a sidestep. "Is that all you have?" he asks, raising an amused eyebrow and oddly enough finding that he was somewhat enjoying this.

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson, you brat!" the man snarled, hating that he was starting to look like a fool. He then took another swing at the boy, ready to take him down.

"I think that's going to be a little hard when you can't even hit me," Tadashi taunts, again easily ducking out of the way. "Seriously, is this your first heist or something? Because you are a total amateur!"

Meanwhile, down in the garage Hiro heard yelling and sounds of things getting knocked around, and it terrified him. What if daddy was getting hurt? What if something bad happened and he didn't do anything? Terrified, the toddler managed to undo the latch on the door and hurried out of the garage. He had to find daddy and protect him!

The robber was furious at this punk's attitude. He would get him and beat him to a pulp! He was about to swing at the kid again when he saw a younger kid out of the corner of his eye peeking into the room, looking terrified. Grinning, the man dove towards the kid and grabbed him snarling, "All right! New terms, you give me my bag and the kid doesn't get hurt!"

"Daddy..." Hiro whimpered, trying unsuccessfully to wiggle out of the man's grip.

The first thing Tadashi feels when he sees his _musuko_ in the doorway is intense panic. But then the burglar takes the little boy captive and the young man feels a fiery anger like he has never known before fill him. How dare this bastard try to harm his son? _HOW DARE HE?!_ Seeing nothing but red, Tadashi hurls himself across the room, easily taking the older man down and pinning him to the floor, allowing Hiro to escape. In moments, the college student finds a pressure point that he knows could easily kill a man in seconds if used properly.

"Give me one reason I should let you live," the older boy snarls into the man's ear.

Terrified, Hiro ran to the other side of the room, cowering in the corner as daddy pinned the man to the ground and snarled at him. Deep down the toddler knew that his papa could keep him safe, but he was also terrified of what the robber might do. What if the man took him away from daddy forever? What if the man did something really, really bad to daddy because of him? The little boy curled up in a tight ball and started crying, terrified. He didn't want to lose daddy. He wished this was all just some horrible dream and he'd wake up safe and sound in papa's arms.

The robber, however, didn't hear Hiro. He was too frozen in his own fear. The man holding him down looked ready to kill him, and he was quickly realizing that grabbing the kid was a big mistake.

"I-I-I wasn't gonna hurt the kid, I swear!" the man stammered, "I got family too, you know? They all got to eat to!"

Tadashi's able to slightly shake aside the intense wrath that he's feeling at those words. A part of him is afraid of just how far he'd almost gone-he hadn't known that he was capable of almost killing someone in protection of Hiro, and he's not sure if he should be proud or very, very concerned. Deciding that he'd have to deal with this moral dilemma later, he gets up, dragging the thief to his feet as well. "If you have a family, then you should really be setting a better example for you kids," he spits. He doesn't have anything on hand to tie this scum up with, so he does the next best thing-he finds a much less dangerous but still effective pressure point on the man's body and presses hard. Instant temporary paralysis sets in, and Tadashi feels safe enough to leave him on the floor so he can pull out his phone and call the police. The operator who picks up promises that some officers will be right over, but asks him to stay on the line until they arrive, just to be on the safe side. He agrees, feeling better knowing that this guy is going to be off of the streets. However, his relief is quickly replaced by concern as he suddenly realizes that he can hear Hiro crying. Dropping the phone, he practically sprints across the room and over to the corner where his son is.

" _Musuko_ , are you okay?!" he cries, scooping the little boy up into his arms. "Are you hurt?" So help him, if that thief had harmed even one hair on the toddler's head…

Hiro hiccup and curled into papa's arms and shakily whispered, "N-no..." He desperately clung onto papa and whispered, "I thought he was gonna hurt you o-o-or take m-me away..."

"Oh, Hiro, no! No!" Tadashi instantly cuddles the little boy up close to his chest, stroking his hair in quick, worried movements, honestly trying to comfort both of them. He now hates himself for having put himself and, ultimately, his son as well in danger like that-how could he have been so stupid? What on Earth had possessed him to do something so downright idiotic?! Still, he can't let on to toddler just how worried he is-the little boy needs to know that someone's being strong, and that everything's okay. "Hiro, you know I would never let anything happen that would keep me from coming back to you!" he murmurs into his _musuko_ 's hair. "I promised that I would never leave you, and I am not going to break that promise!"

Hiro trembled in daddy's arms, trying to stop himself from crying, but failing miserably. He simply clung onto his daddy and completely broke down sobbing.

Hating feeling so helpless and not knowing what else to do, Tadashi just hugs the little boy as tightly as he can and starts rocking him gently, trying to console him as best he can and mentally making himself a promise that he's never, ever going to do something like this to his _musuko_ again. A few minutes later, he hears the sound of a police siren outside and he carefully carries the little boy down the stairs so that he can meet the officers at that door.

"Hamada residence?" the officer asks when he's greeted by the two boys.

"Yes," Tadashi agrees.

"Are you the one who called about a break in?" the other man asks, taking out a pad of paper and starting to jot down notes.

"I did," Tadashi answers, nodding his head. "I have the culprit upstairs if you'd like to take a look."

"By all means," the officer agrees, looking slightly shocked by the news but motioning for Tadashi to lead the way.

The young man leads the officer up into the living room where the robber's still lying very still on the floor.

"Good Heavens!" the officer looks slightly disturbed by the scene. "Is he-"

"What? Oh, no! No no no no!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him. "He's fine. Just a temporary paralysis due to pressure points. I didn't have anything to tie him up with, and I didn't want him to be able to try to hurt my son again."

"You mean you actually engaged the suspect?" The officer raises a questioning eyebrow.

"Well, I mainly just came in to investigate," Tadashi admits, hanging his head and feeling extremely foolish. "I just wanted to get him to leave, but then he tried to pull a gun on me, and, once I got that away from him, he got physically violent. I'd left Hiro somewhere safe, but when he got out and wandered in on us, the thief tried to take him hostage and I...well, I sort of lost my head for a moment. I didn't cause him any real physical harm, but I couldn't just let him hurt my musuko."

"Son, that was either extremely brave or extremely stupid," the officer tells him, his tone a mixture of disbelief and slight respect.

"Believe me, I'm never going to do anything like that again," Tadashi replies, and he means it. "I've got too much that I have to worry about losing," he adds, giving Hiro a quick kiss on the top of his head.

The officer smiles slightly at that and then radios down to his partner downstairs to start bringing up the rest of the reinforcements. "You're a very brave and lucky boy," he says to the toddler once he's done, gently trying to draw the boy out of his trauma induced shell. "You've handled all of this very well, and I hope you know that we're going to do everything we can to make sure that you stay safe, okay?"

Hiro let out a small whimper, too terrified to really say anything else. He tightened his grip around his daddy, wishing it was just him and papa and no one else. He knew that the officers where there to keep them safe, but he was terrified and just didn't feel safe with anyone but his daddy.

"'M not brave..." Hiro whimpered, tightly clinging onto his dad, completely frozen in fear.

"Hiro, you were very, very brave!" Tadashi protests, looking down at the little boy and holding him even tighter. "You did exactly what you were supposed to in a dangerous situation like this, and you kept fairly calm even when things got scary. I am so, so proud of you right now!" He leans down and plants a long kiss the little boy on the top of his head, wanting to do anything and everything that he can to comfort the poor child.

"You've both been through a lot tonight," the officer speaks up, obviously sympathetic to their plight. "Maybe it would help for you two to get away from all of this for a little bit. Mr. Hamada, I'll go ahead and tell you that it's probably for the best that you find other arrangements for lodgings tonight-as unlikely as it is that someone will try to pull something else, it might not be a bad idea for the both of you to leave the scene of the crime so you can get some rest somewhere that you'll feel safe. Of course we'll a statement from you in a little bit, just to make sure that nothing was actually removed from the house or has gone missing, but it might not hurt for you to go pack your overnight bags-it'll give you both something to do and maybe take your mind off of things."

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Tadashi agrees, nodding his head and starting to carry the toddler towards the stairs. "C'mon, Hiro, do you want to help me?"

The little boy buried his face in papa's shoulder and weakly nodded his head, refusing to loosen his grip at all. He felt papa carrying him up the stairs and into a room, but he didn't look up to see where they were. As long as papa didn't put him down, he didn't care where they went.

Tadashi could feel his _musuko_ clinging tightly to him, and, by the time that they get up to the bedroom, he knows that the little boy isn't going to be letting go any time soon. He does his best to work around the toddler and pack the bare essentials for the night into an old duffel bag-clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, a favorite blanket of Hiro's. He also slips in an old framed photograph of his parents, somehow feeling the need to have some sort of presence of them with him after a scare like this. Then, deciding that it would probably be best not bring the little boy back down into what was probably a very frightening environment for him yet, he sits down on his own bed and just concentrates on cuddling with him. Honestly, he'd never really known how important he was to Hiro before-he'd never really considered himself anything special or important, even wondering if it would really make that much of a difference if he just disappeared off the face of the Earth. But now he realizes just how much of an impact losing him would have on the younger of the Hamadas and what a hole it would leave in his heart if somehow he lost him. So, right then and there, Tadashi makes a promise to both himself and Hiro. "I am never, ever leaving you again," he whispers with fierce determination into the boy's cherry blossom scented locks. "No matter what happens, I will do whatever it takes to keep the two of us together, and no one and nothing can ever change that."

The toddler knew he needed to be brave and let daddy do whatever he needed to do, but his arms refused to listen and loosen their grip. He knew that daddy would be disappointed if he wasn't brave, but he just couldn't.

"I love you daddy..." Hiro whispered, desperately clinging onto him. He once again tried to loosen his grip before daddy got annoyed at him, but he just couldn't. An irrational part of his mind was sure that papa would vanish forever if he loosened his grip at all. What if daddy did leave if he let go? What if daddy was so mad at him for leaving the garage that he dumped him the first opportunity he got? As the boy's panic continued, his breathing quickened and his heart started pounding in his chest. "Please don't leave..." was all he could whimper between his heavy breathing.

"Hiro, I'm not leaving you!" Tadashi cries, feeling extremely concerned by the amount of panic that he was seeing on his musuko's face. He could feel the little boy's breathing becoming quick and erratic as the tiny chest fell up and down in a staccato rhythm, and he's reminded of the panic attack that he'd had only nights before. No-Hiro couldn't be having a panic attack, could he?! Oh shoot, what was he supposed to do? He knew how to solve his own problems, but for his own son, he had absolutely no idea what to do, and it terrified him. There was no way that he was going to introduce Hiro to cutting-that would be the worst possible thing he could do!-and the toddler would be too young to understand about rubber bands and ice cubes. He needs some way to calm the little boy down that doesn't involve hurting him. Desperately, he starts playing with the little boy's hair and rubbing his back, hoping that that might help somewhat, but knowing that it probably won't be enough. Then an idea hits him-the one thing he knew always calmed him down after any severely stressful situation and, he hoped, might help Hiro calm down. It might be crazy, but it was worth a try.

Holding the toddler tight to his chest, he carries the boy into the bathroom and, after putting the stopper in, starts running water in the bathtub. Soon the temperature's warm enough that he knows it will do the trick but not so much that it will actually burn. Part of him says to just set the little boy down into the water and let the hydrotherapy do its work, but, judging by the way that the toddler was still clinging to him like his life depended on it, he decides to just throw caution to the wind and climbs in with him fully clothed, not caring that he was going to get soaking wet if it might help his son.

"It's okay, musuko," he tells Hiro as he lowers them both in, allowing the little boy to be submerged up to his waist-enough that the water could do what it was supposed to but not enough to scare him. "You're going to be okay. Your papa's got you."

Hiro was shaking uncontrollably, he couldn't move, could barely breath, but then he's surrounded by warmth. The gentle heat slowly relaxes his tense muscles and his shaking starts becoming less violent. He wasn't sure how long he was in the warm water, but eventually his breathing slows to a normal rate and his whole body starts feeling heavy. Once he's calm enough, though, he feels like a bad boy. He'd been so consumed with worry that he didn't even think about daddy and how he was feeling.

"I'm sorry papa..." Hiro whimpered, feeling heavier by the second. He couldn't sleep, though-what if daddy needed him?

"Hey, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about," Tadashi reassures the little boy softly, gently stroking his hair and feeling extremely relieved that the toddler's breathing was returning to normal. "I'm just glad that you're okay. There's nothing I want more in the world than to know that you're happy and safe, and I hope you know that. You're going to be all right now. I know that you're probably tired, so if you need to go to sleep, it's okay. I'll be right here whenever you wake up-I promise, on my honor as-" He stops himself short. He had been about to swear on his honor as a Hamada brother, but that wasn't quite appropriate for this situation, nor would it make sense to the little boy. So instead he changes it to, "-on my honor as your _otousan_."

Hiro wanted to say something to his papa—anything-but he felt drained, physically and emotionally. He knew he was safe now, and he knew that daddy wouldn't leave him, so maybe it would be okay for him to go to sleep. The little boy sluggishly curled up again his daddy and let himself slip into a fitful sleep.

Tadashi smiles as the little boy finally nods off on his chest. After waiting a few minutes to make sure that the child was fully asleep, he quietly climbs out of bathtub and, after toweling off both himself and the toddler, he heads into the bedroom and gets them dressed in dry clothes. Then he heads back down the stairs to check in with the officer.

"Well, it looks like everything is in order," the policeman says a little while later after he and the elder Hamada had gone through the house and checked to make sure that nothing had gone missing that hadn't been found in the robber's bag (Aunt Cass had, of course, been contacted by phone and Tadashi, both because he didn't want to concern her unnecessarily and because he didn't want her coming home early and finding Hiro in his current state, had downplayed the events and managed to convince her to stay where she was for the duration of the conference.) "We actually owe you a bit of a debt of gratitude, young man," the officer adds. "We've been trying to nail this particular crook for quite some time, but he's always managed to give us the slip no matter what we've done. You should be proud-you've helped make this city that much safer by helping take him off the streets."

"Well, I'm glad that I could be of help," the younger man answers, modestly bowing his head but honestly more so glad that his son was going to be safer from now on than being concerned with being some sort of hero.

"If there's anything we can ever do for you, just let us know," the officer tells him, putting a fatherly hand on his shoulder.

"Well..." Tadashi considers this. "You mentioned finding a place to stay for the night-do you have any suggestions?"

The officer nods. "Oh, but of course. There's a nice hotel downtown where I've sent a lot of people who are in situations like you. I'm friends with the manager there, and I can get you two set up with a room for the night-I can even give you a ride over if you'd like me to."

"That would be great!" Tadashi says with a relieved grin. "Just let me grab my bag and we can go."

Hiro was aware of the fact that papa was talking to someone, but he was too tired to try to figure out what they were saying. Eventually they were walking again and he was gently set down. He tried to make a sound, but his body refused to do anything but lie there.

After finishing gathering the things that they were going to need for the next day (the duffel and, upon further reflection, his backpack for school) Tadashi carries the toddler out to the front of the house to where the officer's going to meet them. It's their first (and, the elder boy hopes, last) time in a police cruiser, and a part of him wishes that his musuko was awake so that he could enjoy the experience. But the poor little kiddo is so knocked out that he isn't even moving or making any noises.

"Poor little fella," the policeman says, briefly glancing over at the tiny figure as they came to a stoplight and smiling sympathetically. "He really did a number on himself, didn't he?"

"Yeah, the stress must have really worn him out," Tadashi agrees, cuddling the smaller figure protectively to his chest.

"My two are just the same," the officer tells him as the light changes and they start off again. "The poor things wouldn't sleep for a month when I started this job. But, you do what you have to do-as much as I know how much I'm putting my life at risk, I'm doing it for them, to make sure that they have a safer and better future."

"Right." Tadashi nods his head, grateful that there were people like the officer who were willing to risk everything to keep the rest of the city safe. After that, the two fall into a companionable but thoughtful silence for the remainder of the trip.

"Ah, here we are!" the officer announces a few minutes later, pulling up to the curb of what had to be one of the biggest and fanciest hotels Tadashi had ever seen.

"Whoa, wait-we're staying _here_?!" the boy cries in disbelief.

"Anything wrong with it?" the officer asks, looking slightly bemused by the young man's reaction.

"N-no," Tadashi stammers. "It's just-I thought that you meant a little motel or something, not all of this!"

"What, would you prefer to stay in a room that's infested with bedbugs and smells like cheap perfume?" the officer responds in a slightly teasing tone. "That could be arranged if you wanted it to, but I figured you'd be more comfortable here."

"It's just-this is too much for me to be able to accept!" Tadashi answers lamely.

"You know I'm going to be offended if you don't, don't you?" the officer returns with a wink. "Seriously, don't think of it as me doing it as a favor to you. It's just one father trying to help another one out."

"All right then, I accept," Tadashi finally says, giving him a grateful smile-honestly, he's somewhat relieved to know that his son's going to be able to sleep in safety tonight. "Thank you so, so much!"

"Don't mention it." The officer waves off his thanks with an airy wave. "Now come on, let's get you two settled for the night, okay?"

Hiro knew they were in some sort of car, driving somewhere. He didn't know where they were going, and he didn't particularly care. The motion of the car and being pressed up against daddy was helping him really fall deeply asleep and get some much needed rest.

The officer brings the two Hamadas right up to the front desk and, after talking with the manager for a few minutes, he gets the boys put up in a room overlooking the pool. Tadashi thanks both the officer and the manager profusely for everything that they'd done, and the officer tells him not to hesitate to call him if they need anything. The young man nods and acts like everything is completely fine at this point. But, once he and Hiro are alone, he crawls up onto the bed with the little boy still wrapped in his arms and lest out a long sigh. Honestly, even though he knows that they're safe and there's nothing to worry about, he can't help but jump at even the slightest noises out in the hall. Seriously, up until now he'd never considered just how dangerous a place San Fransokyo was. He'd grown up mainly in the nicer parts of the city, avoiding the rougher parts of town and, as far as he'd been concerned, if he didn't go looking for trouble, it wouldn't come looking for him. But tonight's events had shattered that thin veil of imagined safety. Danger could come knocking on, or, more aptly, breaking down your door at any moment. Heck, both of his parents, some of the most peaceful and law-abiding citizens that he knew of, had died in a car accident because some lunatic had run them into oncoming traffic. This place wasn't safe-and it certainly wasn't any place for a little boy like his musuko to be growing up in. More than anything, at the moment Tadashi wishes he could just run away with the little boy and never look back.

He freezes slightly as the idea registers in his head and looks down at the toddler in his arms. To run away with Hiro... What would that look like? Was it even possible? Technically, he could bring the aging machine along, and just allow the little boy to age one year on each of his birthdays until he was fourteen years again. He'd find them a nice little house or apartment somewhere far away from here, get a job (with his robotics expertise, it wouldn't be too difficult to get a half-decent position), and raise Hiro as his son. For a moment he lets the fantasy play through his head, almost able to see just how amazing it would all be. But then he comes crashing back to reality-he couldn't do that, either to Hiro or to Aunt Cass, who would certainly be worried sick if both of her nephews suddenly went missing. He shoves the idea to the back of his mind and pulls the blankets up over himself and the toddler, deciding that maybe some sleep would help clear his head. But, even as he fell off into a deep and dreamless sleep, the thoughts burn like a bright fire in his subconscious all through the night.


	19. Chapter 19

Hiro slowly came to the next morning, instantly realizing he was not at home like they should be. Why wasn't he at home? Where was he? He started to panic, but then calmed slightly when he felt Tadashi's arms tightly wrapped around him. If daddy was with him, then they were safe. He curled up against papa and tried to sleep some more, but he couldn't. He was restless and, for some reason, extremely nervous.

Tadashi, still slightly on edge from the events of the night before, awoke when he felt the toddler starting to move. "Hey buddy," he yawned, gently stroking the boy's hair. "How'd you sleep?"

"Okay, I guess..." Hiro mumbled. "Where are we?" he asked, nuzzling against the touch.

"We're in a hotel," Tadashi answers, enjoying the feeling of having his son cuddling up to his chest. What he wouldn't give to wake up every morning like this…

"Oh..." Hiro mumbled just as his stomach let out a loud growl, reminding him that he'd never had a chance to eat dinner last night. He didn't want to get up, though-he wanted to keep cuddling with papa.

"You hungry, little guy?" Tadashi asks, smiling slightly as he hears the rumbling sound and gently poking the little boy's tummy.

"Yes..." Hiro mumbled, giggling and trying to squirm out of daddy's reach.

"Okay then, well, let's see about doing something to feed that hungry stomach of yours," Tadashi says with a slight laugh, scooping the little boy up into his arms and leaning down so that their noses touched.

Hiro giggled and kissed his papa's nose. He was silly, but Hiro loved that he was so good at it.

Tadashi kisses him back, and then sets the boy momentarily down on the bed so he can find fresh clothes for both of them. "All right, let's get you dressed so we can go down and get some breakfast," he says to the little boy, starting to pull the tiny shirt off over the toddler's head.

Hiro laughed and dug out some shorts to wear, saying, "Can we have waffles?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees. Content that the toddler is momentarily able to look after himself, he heads into the bathroom and gets into fresh clothes, also taking a moment to tame his ridiculous bed head (seriously, what was it about going to sleep that caused all of the Hamadas' hair to go haywire?) Then he heads back out into the main room and prepares to carry the little boy out into the hall when suddenly there's a knock on the door. For a moment, the young man feels slightly panicky-he wasn't expecting any visitors, and, frankly, he's still somewhat jumpy after the previous night's events. But then a chipper voice calls out, "Room service!" and he relaxes slightly.

"Um, hi," he says, opening the door to reveal a smiling young woman out in the hall holding a tray loaded down with various breakfast foods. "I'm sorry, but I think you must have the wrong room. We didn't actually order anything."

"Oh no, this is compliments of the management," the girl answers, giving him a friendly wink. "They said it was for the special guests staying in this room after their rough night."

"Wow, really?" Tadashi blinks in surprise as he accepts the food. "T-thank you, that's extremely considerate. Please let them know that we really appreciate this."

"Will do!" The girl gives him an enthusiastic nod before heading off down the hall to attend to her other patrons.

"Must be a morning person," Tadashi thinks to himself with slight amusement as he closes the door. Then he heads back into the main room and informs his son with a grin, "Well buddy, it looks like breakfast came to us!"

"Wow!" Hiro exclaimed, running over to where the food was. "Do all hotels make food appear like that? Do you think gummy bears will come if I ask the hotel nicely enough?"

"Well, not all hotels, but the man in charge was being nice," Tadashi responds with a slight chuckle as he sets the tray down. "And sadly, no, I don't think we'll be getting any gummy bears this morning. But maybe we can get some on the way to school, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed, awkwardly climbing into a chair at the table. "Why do some hotels have food that appear out of nowhere?"

"Well... some of the nicer hotels have it where you can call their kitchen and order food," Tadashi explains, sitting down across from the toddler. "But the manager of this hotel knows why we're here and, since he's a nice person, he decided to send us breakfast-you know, sort of like when Aunt Cass brings us food on a tray in bed when we're not feeling good?"

"That's really nice!" Hiro exclaimed jumping off of the table to look for some paper.

"It is," Tadashi agrees, watching with curiosity as the little boy hops down to the floor. "What are you looking for?" he asks with slight amusement as he watches the little boy beginning to open various drawers in the dresser.

"I wanna say thank you to the nice manager for our breakfast!" Hiro exclaimed continuing his search.

"Well, that's a very good idea," Tadashi says, nodding his head in approval. "But, if I may ask, how are you planning to do that?"

"I'm going to make a card!" Hiro declared. "I just need some paper and a pencil!"

"Well, I think I've got both of those in my backpack," Tadashi tells him with a slight grin, going over to his bag and unzipping it. "Here you go," he says after a moment of digging, pulling out the required materials.

"Thank you daddy!" Hiro replied, taking the items and starting to write a short note.

Tadashi couldn't help but feel proud of the little boy-such good manners at such an early age! He can't help but guiltily wonder who he learned them more from, himself or their birth parents. Quickly he shoves the thought away, not really wanting to dwell on that topic. "Don't forget to actually eat some of the breakfast that you're thanking him for," he reminds the boy gently, knowing for a fact that the little boy hadn't eaten since lunchtime the day before and deciding to focus his concerns on that instead.

"What do we have to eat?" Hiro asked excitedly. "Pancakes? Waffles? Gummy bears?"

"Um, all of the above except for the gummy bears," Tadashi replies, somewhat surprised by the large variety of foods that had been sent. He piles a few pancakes and waffles onto a plate for Hiro, spreading both generously with butter and maple syrup. For himself, he's pleased to find a bowl of _Asa-raa,_ or morning ramen (something which had been something of a staple for his own dad), and he can't help but be grateful that the hotel caters to both western and eastern diets.

"Yummy!" Hiro exclaimed, excitedly digging into his plate. As he ate he read over what he'd written:

 _Dear Mr. Manager,_

 _Thanks for the yummy breakfast! Me and daddy really really liked it! There was enough food to feed a whole entire army! Daddy says it's nice to say thank you to nice people and you are a very nice man Mr. Manager! Your mommy and daddy would be very proud. You made this the bestest day ever!_

 _Hiro and Daddy_

 _"_ Daddy what do you think of the note?" Hiro asked, passing the note over to papa.

"It-it looks great, Hiro," Tadashi responds as he reads over it, feeling a warm glow as he realizes that apparently the toddler had been learning from him. He doesn't want to put his own parents down in any way, but he can't help but take this as another confirmation that little boy really is his-and, in an odd sort of way, it adds a little more weight to the idea that's been slowly but surely growing in his mind ever since Hiro had gotten de-aged.

"Yay!" the younger boy exclaimed, completely oblivious to what was going through his papa's head and taking a large bite out of his pancake.

Tadashi meanwhile enjoys his own noodles, trying not to make too big of a mess with them but, unfortunately, still managing to end up with one or two hanging over the bridge of his nose.

Hiro looked over at daddy and giggled when he saw the noodles hanging on his nose. "You're 'posed to eat them, daddy, not wear them!" he teased.

"Yeah, I know that little guy," Tadashi agrees with a laugh. Feeling silly, he pulls another noodle out of his bowl and drapes it over the toddler's nose. "There, now we match," he says with a satisfied smile.

Hiro laughed, pulling the noodle off of his nose and eating it. "You're so silly, daddy," he laughed.

"Well, I try my best," Tadashi answers with a teasing grin.

"When are we going to your school?" Hiro asked, bouncing in his seat. "And when can I take the note to Mr. Manager?"

"Well, as soon as we finish with breakfast, we'll get heading out," Tadashi promises. He checks the wall clock-they still have time, but he decides to hurry through the rest of his meal just to be on the safe side.

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed, also quickly working to finish off his breakfast.

Tadashi finishes his noodles and then packs up the few belongings that he and his son had brought with them. "All right, you ready to go?" he starts to ask the toddler as he finishes, and then chuckles slightly as he sees just how syrup smeared the little boy had become during the meal. "Hold on a sec," he says, disappearing into the bathroom and then returning a minute later with a soapy washcloth. "Better get you cleaned up so you can look like a proper nerd when we visit my lab," he explains, gently scrubbing his _musuko_ 's face.

Hiro giggled as daddy cleaned his face, saying, "Can we give Mr. Manager the note first?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, returning the washcloth to the bathroom once he was finished. "We're both going to go down and thank him personally-he did us a lot of really nice favors, and it's the least we can do."

"Are all managers this nice?" Hiro asked.

"Um, not all of them," Tadashi responds, sliding both bags over his shoulders before picking the little boy up and heading for the door. "We were just very blessed to have two very nice men helping us out last night. I guess God was really looking out for us."

"Oh... well I'm glad we met these managers!" Hiro asserts.

"Me too," Tadashi agrees, carrying the little boy out into the hall and carefully closing the door to the room behind them. Then he walks over to the elevator where they have to wait for a cab to arrive. "Do you want to push the buttons?" he asks Hiro with a slight smile when the doors finally open and they go in.

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, reaching over and hitting the appropriate button.

"All right then, down we go," Tadashi tells him with a slight laugh as the doors slide shut. "Oh, wow, look!" he cries as he turns around, noticing the glass back of the elevator and bringing Hiro over so he can watch as they descend into the enormous lobby.

"Wow!" Hiro exclaimed, looking down at the lobby. "This is awesome!"

"I know, right?" Tadashi can't help but feel a little awe-struck himself. Honestly, he'd never thought he'd get to stay in a place like this-just another reason he has to be grateful to the manager for letting them spend the night in one of the rooms for absolutely nothing.

Hiro continued to ogle the hotel as the elevator reached the first floor and the door opened.

Tadashi steps out and carries the little boy over to the front desk. He turns the key in to the desk attendant and then asks if there's any way that he can speak to the manager. The young man working there nods his head and disappears into the office behind the desk. A few minutes late,r a middle aged gentleman with greying hair and a huge smile comes walks out to greet them.

"Ah, _buongiorno_!" he greets the two boys. "How was your stay?"

"It was-amazing, for lack of a better word," Tadashi answers. "We just wanted to say thank you again for everything. There's no way we can ever repay you for your kindness to us, but if there's anything we can do-"

"Think nothing of it," the manager responds, waving aside the young man's concerns and scoffing slightly. "We are glad to be of service to everyone here!"

"Well, all the same, my son has something that he'd like to give you," Tadashi says with a slight smile.

"Here Mr. Manager!" Hiro exclaimed handing him the note. "Can I give you a hug?"

"Why, thank you!" the manager says, looking quite pleased by the gift. "And of course you may!"

Hiro reached out and wrapped his arms around the older man in a tight hug.

"Goodness, you have a lucky father if you always give hugs like this!" the manager chuckles good naturedly chuckles as he hugs the little boy back.

"No, I'm pretty sure that I'm the lucky one since I have the best _musuko_ in the whole universe," Tadashi replies with a slight smile as he leans down to kiss the little boy gently on the top of his head.

"Ah, the love of a father and a son," the manager says, grinning and putting a hand over his heart. "There is truly nothing like it on Earth. The two of you will have to come back and visit me soon, _sì_?"

"Only if daddy says ok." Hiro informed him, a serious look on his face.

Tadashi feels a momentary quandary-how to answer this question? If the toddler was going to be going to normal soon, then that probably wouldn't work out-the manager wouldn't even recognize him. Then again, if the boy stayed young... Well, if the boy stayed young, then they were getting the heck out of this city.

"Well, hopefully," Tadashi finally responds, pasting on a falsely cheerful smile, allowing his answer be ambiguous enough not to get any of them in trouble.

" _Eccellente_!" The manager practically beams. "Well then, I know you two probably have places to be, so I'll bid you _arrivederci_!"

Tadashi nods his goodbye as he starts to head towards the main doors. "Thank you again!" he calls.

"'Bye, Mr. Manager!" Hiro called, waving to him.

"All right, so, you ready for school, little guy?" Tadashi asks as he carries the toddler towards the nearest streetcar stop, his head buzzing with a million and one thoughts but trying to stay involved in the present for his _musuko_ 's sake.

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed. "To the nerd school!"

"Yeah!" Tadashi agrees as they board the tram, glad to see the little boy so honestly excited about something involving education and adding that as yet another thing that supported his theory that letting Hiro start over would be a good idea.

"I can't wait to see it!" the toddler exclaimed, excitedly looking out the window as they started off.

"Ah, there it is!" Tadashi says a few minutes later as they pull up in front of the university, pointing out the window before gathering the little boy and the bags up into his arms.

"Now, remember what I told you," he says as he leads toddler Hiro up the sidewalk to the Ito Ishioka building where his lab was. "I've got a few classes this morning and then a couple more after lunch. I'm going to see if the teachers will let you sit in today, but if they don't, you'll have to be a good boy and stay in my office while I'm gone, okay?"

"Okay, daddy!" Hiro agreed, half running to keep up with him as he walked. He hoped he could stay in the classes with daddy, he didn't want them to get separated.

"I think you're really going to like it here," Tadashi tells the little boy, his heart soaring at the idea of actually bringing his _otouto_ (well, for the moment, his _musuko_ ) into the Nerd Lab. As a teenager, Hiro had so protested against the idea, but as a toddler the boy was just so eager to see and learn everything about his "Dashi's" life.

"There's always someone building something or doing a really cool experiment," the older of the Hamada boys continues, his eyes sparkling with excitement as they approach the doors. "Maybe we can even make something ourselves after my classes today-would you like that?"

"Yes! Can we, please?" Hiro exclaimed, eyes lighting up with excitement. "I love building things with you, daddy!"

"In that case, we're definitely going to build something together, and it's going to be epic," Tadashi promises. At this point they've reached the entryway and he reaches down to pick the little boy up. "You ready for this?

"This is going to be so cool!" Hiro exclaimed.

"You bet it is!" Tadashi agrees. grinning as he pushes the door open and together they enter the beautifully crafted lobby of the pride and jewel of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. "Welcome to Ito Ishioka!"

"This is so amazing!" Hiro exclaimed, staring around the building in wonder.

"Yeah, it really is," Tadashi says, nodding and smiling with pride as he looks around the building he counted as his second home. "This is where I spend most of my time here at school. And the Nerd Lab is where your daddy works on his robotics projects and other awesome stuff. Do you want to go see it?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed. "I want to see the nerd lab and all the other cool nerds!"

Tadashi tries not to laugh at that. Seriously, it was completely adorable how, as a toddler, the younger Hamada thought "nerd" was a title of the highest honor. "Well, I'm sure that they're all going to love my little nerd," he says, giving the little boy a quick kiss on the forehead before starting off down the hall.

As he passes other students, he can see many of them turning to look at the two of them. Some, he was sure, were just curious about the presence of a kid in the building, especially one as adorable as Hiro. Others that he recognized from classes, however, were probably trying to wrap their minds around the fact that Tadashi was quite possibly a father, a fact that he'd never mentioned. Well, he could straighten it all out later. Right now, he was more than proud to be seen with his musuko, and he wasn't going to let anything spoil the moment.

Before long, the Hamadas reach the large doors which lead into the largest and most advanced experimental laboratory on campus, and the elder boy announces cheerfully, "All right, here we are! You ready to get your mind blown, little guy?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, before freezing and asking, "Wait…my mind won't really explode, right?"

"No, no, absolutely not," Tadashi reassures him. "It's just going to be so amazing that it's going to _feel_ like it did. Ker-pew!" He makes a silly explosion sound for the little boy's benefit.

"Oh, good!" Hiro exclaimed. "This is going to be awesome!"

"That it is!" Tadashi agrees with a grin. Almost trembling with anticipation, he opens the nearest door and announces dramatically, "Welcome to the Nerd Lab!"

Honey Lemon was startled by the sudden sounds of shouting. She turned towards the entrance of the lab, and that is where she found Tadashi. A smile spreads across her face. She hadn't talked to her friend since they had had that somewhat awkward moment when they had been genderswapped and he'd confessed to having feeling for her. Ever since then the young man had been extremely distant-she'd tried to get ahold of him over the weekend, but he'd never answered his phone. It was almost as if they didn't know each other anymore. It made her upset just thinking about it, and she wished that she knew what was going on with him.

Honey is snapped out of her thoughts when she notices something different about her friend—namely, that he is carrying a toddler. Of course, the first thing thought in her mind is, _OMG he's so cuuute!_ But once she calms down, her mind actually begins to process the situation and she's hit with a rather disturbing thought: _Wait, why does he have a child? Is Tadashi a DAD?!_

Before her panicky thoughts can get the better of her, though, she corrects herself. _No, Tadashi isn't married, and there's no way that he'd have a child out of wedlock. Perhaps it's an adorable baby brother?_ Yeah, she'd go with that idea.

This explanation firmly settled in her mind, without hesitation she begins walking over to the duo. Maybe this would give her the chance to ask her friend what has been keeping him so detached for the past few days. Of course, she was going to be secretive about it-or at least try to be. There was no way she could let on just how freaked out he'd had her.

"Hey, Tadashi!" she says with a friendly wave as she walks up.

Tadashi stiffens slightly as he sees Honey heading towards them. Partly it was because he was still a little bit recovering from her turning him down-even though he'd come to see it as a sort of blessing in disguise, a reminder that he needed to be more focused on his relationship with Hiro right now (a fact that was only compounded when his brother had gotten turned into a toddler and the amount of sibling as well as father/son bonding had increased exponentially), if he was honest, it was still somewhat painful to think about. But the other and more pressing reason was because, as much as he didn't mind the rest of the lab thinking that the little boy was his son, he had somehow neglected to think through how he would explain this to his closest friends (which he still counted Honey among, despite the heartbreak) and still manage to keep toddler's temporary but very fragile dream world intact. Since it's too late to come up with some convoluted explanation on the spot or to pretend like he hadn't seen her (not without seeming like a total jerk, which he seriously doesn't want to do), he gives her an awkward one handed wave and an embarrassed smile before mumbling, "Um, h-hey, Honey Lemon."

Oh, so much awkward. So. Much. Awkward. Honey could almost palpably feel the tension between them in the air, but she tries to push the discomfort aside and continue the conversation normally. She wants to ask what had been going on with her friend for the past few days (she had her suspicions, but she'd rather hear it directly.) However, realizing that she needs to be tactful, she changes her mind and decides to ask instead about the adorable little guy clinging to him. "So ... Is this your little brother?" she inquires, not wanting to even ASK if he was a father.

Okay, yes, of course that would be the first thing out of her mouth. Tadashi could almost see her trying to avoid asking the "Do you actually have a child?" question, and a part of him (a part he's rather ashamed of) wants to automatically answer that toddler is indeed his son. But he bites that back-he can't be that cruel and, honestly, the last thing that he wants to do is completely and totally destroy any chances that they have of even having a normal friendship at this point. On the other hand, though, he can't exactly tell her that Hiro's his brother-not in front of the little boy, anyway. So, opting for a neutral answer, he adjusts the toddler in his arms and replies, "Honey Lemon, I'd like you to meet Hiro."

"Hi!" Hiro said, waving at the pretty lady. She seemed nice, and daddy had called her Honey—did that mean that he liked her? Never one to beat around the bush, he asks eagerly,"Are you dating my daddy?"

Honey's cheeks turn a light shade of pink. She can't believe she's being faced with this question again! How did this little kid even know what dating was? And wait, had she hear him correctly? He'd called Tadashi "daddy". She feels her heart sinking at this new piece of information. Still, she tries to reassure herself that this doesn't automatically mean that her friend is a father. It could be his ... nickname?

Realizing that she still needed to answer the toddler's question, she stammers, "Um, n-no... Uh, H-Hiro. I and your... Uh, daddy aren't dating. Honey, or Honey Lemon, is just my nickname."

"Oh..." Hiro responded, nodding his head in understanding before adding brightly, "You're pretty! Are you and daddy friends? Do you invent cool things together? Do lots of people build stuff in the nerd lab together?" He wanted to know everything about daddy's lab and friends-maybe he could even come here someday! "Do you think I could be a nerd too?"

Honey gives a light chuckle, forgetting about the awkwardness for a moment. She loves his enthusiasm. "Why, thank you. Um, to answer your questions," she quickly looks over at Tadashi and then back at Hiro. "Yes, I and your daddy are friends ... Really good ones. We haven't actually done a project TOGETHER before but it's not impossible and yes, people work together all of the time!"She quickly takes off her glasses and puts them on the toddler. "And yes! I'm sure you'll be a great nerd, Hiro!"

The little boy giggled and looked up at his daddy saying, "Look, papa! We match!"

Tadashi, for his part, had been silently letting all this go on, partly just content to let his son direct the conversation so that he didn't have to answer all of the awkward questions on his own, partly because, after that dating question, he'd been too embarrassed to really jump in (seriously, this kid was far too perceptive for his own good, even as a toddler!) When Hiro makes the comment about the glasses, though, he knows that he's expecting an answer, so he responds with a slight smile, "Y-yes, yes we do." He'd almost forgotten the fact that he'd gone back to wearing glasses over the course of the weekend to be able to make himself look slightly older and more qualified to play the part of the toddler's dad. Unable to meet Honey Lemon's gaze (partly because he was still feeling too awkward about how the direction that this conversation had been going and partly because he's afraid that, if he looked into her eyes, it would bring back all of those emotions that he'd thought had been eliminated after he'd had the slight breakdown on Saturday) he quickly leans down to kiss the little boy on the top of his head and adds, "You know that you're already your daddy's little nerd."

GoGo takes this epic moment of adorableness as the perfect moment to jump into the conversation. She had noticed some sort of confrontation going on between her two friend, so, taking advantage of whatever distraction they had found to pop in unnoticed (and relishing in the fact that this would have the effect of making her seem to appear out of nowhere), the tomboy steps into the little group and bumps Honey with her hip lightly, crossing her arms and blowing a small pink bubble before speaking. "Hey Honey Lemon. Tadashi."

"Oh, hi GoGo!" Honey Lemon lets out a sigh of relief. Maybe the addition of her friend into the conversation would dull the awkward feelings. "Have you see Hiro? Isn't he adorable?" she asks, hoping her that the note of disappointment in her voice wasn't too noticeable.

"Uh, h-hey GoGo," Tadashi says with a nod, blushing and slightly embarrassed that he had been caught in such a vulnerable moment with Hiro by the tomboy-he knew that she wasn't big on sentimentality (or, at least that's what he'd gathered) and he also knew that he was probably going to get mercilessly teased for this. But, stiffening his resolve, he decides that he doesn't regret a moment of it. After all, why shouldn't they see this? It's part of who he is, so if they don't like it, they can deal with it.

"Hi GoGo!" Hiro enthusiastically greeted. "Are you friends with my daddy?"

The raven haired girl blinks in surprise as she notices the toddler for the first time. "Oh! Hey there, bud. Yeah, I'm friends with your…" She pauses and shoots a questioning look at Tadashi before finishing her sentence, "Daddy?" She had no idea her friend was a dad, and honestly was a bit shocked at the idea. Seriously, this kid had to be at least five. What had he done, knocked up his girlfriend in high school? She wasn't about to be the judgmental one in their rapidly forming group but... dang.

Okay, shoot. From the look on GoGo's face, Tadashi could tell that he had let this go a little too far. Apparently he needed to straighten things out before his friends began seriously questioning his life choices (which, technically were up for debate, but that was beside the point.)

"Um, Hiro?" he says, looking down at the little boy in his arms. "Daddy needs to talk to his friends alone for a second. Do you think if I set you up with some crayons in my office you'd be okay on you own for a few minutes?"

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed waving and saying, "Bye! It was nice to meet you daddy's friends!"

Smiling in spite of herself, Gogo waves back. "You too."

Tadasashi gives his friends an awkward nod and then hurries across the lab to where his office is. Not for the first time is he glad that it has a door, especially since the knob is out of reach of a four-year-old so he can safely know that Hiro won't go wandering around while he's trying to explain everything to Honey and GoGo. He unlocks the door and flips the lights on, and then settles Hiro on the floor near his desk. Paper and crayons are quickly produced from a drawer and then, just in case the toddler manages to get bored with doodling, he unlocks his phone and puts it down next to him as well so he can play with it should the need for an added boredom buster arise.

"You going to be okay?" he asks as he gently tucks a strand of hair the little boy's ear, still hating the idea of leaving the little boy alone even for a few minutes.

Hiro nodded his head and grabbed a crayon to start drawing, saying, "Yes daddy. Are you gonna invent stuff with your friends?"

"Um, not exactly," Tadashi admits with a slightly strained smile. "There's just-just a couple of things that we need to talk about real quick. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed as he continued to draw. He was going to make a special picture for daddy.

"All right then." Tadashi leans down to give the boy one last quick kiss before closing the door behind him and heading back out across the lab.

"So, um, I guess I have some explaining to do," he says once he's back with his friends, wincing slightly as he anticipates the awkward stream of questions that were about to be directed his way.

Gogo smirks and nods a few times, the slightest amount of sarcasm entering her voice. "You could say that, yeah."

"Um... shoot, where do you guys even want me to begin?" Tadashi asks, rubbing the back of his neck and turning slightly red as he tries but fails to figure out how to explain all of this.

"Well ... I think you should explain why you have a CHILD," Honey suggests.

Tadashi cringes as he hears the slightly accusatory tone in Honey Lemon's voice-of course she would be somewhat concerned by this fact since he'd never mentioned anything about being a parent before. But, then again, what business was it of hers if he did have a kid? Obviously he loved Hiro very much, so who was to say there was anything wrong with this? For a full thirty seconds he debates coming up with a convoluted story about an early arranged marriage that had ultimately ended in the unfortunate death of the mother to explain the toddler's existence-but no, he can't do that. He may be hurting, but he's not that bitter. "Well, technically, Hiro isn't quite mine," the older of the Hamadas finally admits. "That is-he is mine, but it's in every sense except for my being his biological dad."

Honey raises a brow. "Oh ... I'm sorry? ... I'm a bit confused."

Tadashi lets out a tiny sigh, realizing that he's going to have to be straightforward with this instead of just dancing around the issue. "Hiro's actually my little brother," he explains bluntly.

Honey feels a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. She wants to give the young man a hug, but she knows it would just make everything awkward yet again and so she decides to keep the hug to herself, especially since she couldn't understand why in the actual heck she felt so relieved.

After a good thirty seconds of registering everything, she finally says, "Oh, I see. Well, it's very sweet and thoughtful of you to bring him here... But why haven't we seen or heard of Hiro before today?"

"Um... I think I may have mentioned him," Tadashi admits, rubbing the back of his neck as he comes to the awkward part of the explanation. "Only, you were probably used to hearing me talk about him as a teenager who wouldn't come within ten miles of this place."

"Wait, you mean _that_ Hiro?" Gogo cuts in, making a slightly bewildered gesture with her hand in an attempt to convey her confusion.

"Yes, _that_ Hiro," Tadashi agrees, nodding and somewhat glad that she actually remembered. He turns slightly red as he continues, "Let's just say... there was an incident. We sort of built a machine that was supposed to turn our cat, Mochi, back into a kitten for a few days, but it accidentally hit Hiro, and, well, I think that you can kind of guess what happened next."

A short silence occupies the group for a few moments, followed immediately by Gogo's incredulous snort. This is in turn followed by her bursting into a fit of laughter which she barely manages to contain. "T-that has got to be the most ridiculous screw-ups I've heard of in a while," she finally manages to say, grinning playfully to take the sting out of her words. "And that includes my personal ones."

Tadashi can't help but chuckle too, realizing how ridiculous the situation must sound. "Well, screw up or no, I have to admit that these past couple of days have been the best ones of my life," he responds with a slight smile.

GoGo can't help but chuckle at that before saying, "That's ridiculously cute."

"Yeah, I mean, who'd have thought it?" Tadashi agrees, shaking his head slightly. "If anyone had told me even a few days ago that I'd be playing dad to Hiro, I would have completely freaked out and told them that they were crazy. But I guess all of this has helped me open up to how I really feel about him, and, honestly, I've never been happier. Part of me wishes that it would never have to go back to the way that things were."

"Aww, how sweet, Tadashi!" Honey suddenly jumps back into the conversation. "I couldn't imagine having a small child to take care of. It seems like it'd be both adorable AND stressful." She gives a sympathetic smile

"He's so amazing that I really don't mind any of it," Tadashi answers with a smile. "And, it's not like it's anything new- I have been pretty much raising him for most of his life. When I was younger, I didn't want him thinking of me as his dad because I wasn't sure I was ready for that sort of responsibility. But now-well I guess I finally came to terms with the fact that I've always sort of seen him as my _musuko_ and it's sort of like getting a fresh start with him."

Gogo frowns slightly and allows Honey to take over the conversation for a few minutes. Sure, the whole situation was adorable and kinda hilarious, but the fact that Tadashi seemed to be implying that he was just willing to erase the memory of most of his brother's childhood and parade around as his father was more than slightly concerning, and, never one to keep her opinions to herself, she intended to tell him so. "Tadashi, I'm not about to question your short term decisions about this... predicament," she says slowly. "But it sounds like you're considering just leaving him like this..." She trails off, allowing him to either confirm or deny her suspicions before diving into why that was so wrong.

Tadashi feels himself stiffen slightly at that. He doesn't like the look on GoGo's face or the tone of her voice-he can tell that he's said too much and that the girl is about to give him a piece of her mind about what she thought on the matter. He can feel the back of his neck growing slightly hot with annoyance-who was she to judge him when she knew absolutely nothing about the situation? Trying not to let his true feelings show right off the bat, though, he just answers coolly, "Well, the idea has crossed my mind."

GoGo winces inwardly. She could already tell she was about to set off some major triggers. But this needed to be said, and so, taking a deep breath, she pushes on. "I don't know if that's such a great idea. From what I can tell, Hiro remembers nothing of his growing up to be the kid he is today, yeah? If you keep him this way, he'll never remember any of that ever again. He'll grow up to be a completely different person. Are you sure you want that for him?"

"If it means his life isn't the hell that it is now, yes," Tadashi fires back with more passion than he realized that he had. "Seriously, Hiro is freakin' miserable outside of the time that we spend together. He's always getting beat up at school; any supposed friends that he makes end up dumping him as soon as they've gotten what they want out of him; he has little to no interest in school, something that he used to love almost more than anything, because whenever he tries to just be who he is he either ends up getting hurt by classmates who hate him for being so smart or looked down on by teachers who won't take him seriously; he's pretty much turned to something which is the equivalent of drugs or self-harm just to be able to get through the day; and these last few days I've been spending time with him are the first time that I've actually seen him smile in MONTHS! So am I willing to take the chance of him turning out a little different? If it means he'll actually get a fresh start and can live a life where he can be happy, you better damn believe it."

Honey flinches at the sudden emotion that the young man spews before the two of them. Was that ... an obscenity? She'd never actually heard her friend curse before. And, as much as she respected him, she realizes that GoGo definitely has a point. No one should ever try to change someone else's memories... It would completely change who the other person was. Soon the girl finds herself holding up her hands to signal for both parties to stop.

"Tadashi please, calm down," she says gently. "GoGo didn't mean to offend you in any way. She's just..." The young woman tries to think of a way to say this without offending her friend any more than he already was, but realizing that there didn't seem a good was to state that she actually agreed with GoGo, so she just simply adds, "Please just calm down. She was only trying to help you think this through." Almost immediately she realizes that that had probably the wrong choice of words, and was she ever right.

"Do you think I haven't been thinking this through? I haven't been thinking of much else since this whole thing started!" Tadashi spits, looking between the two of them as his face darkens slightly. "Hiro is _happy_ right now-happier than I've seen him in a very, very long time! All I want is what's best for him."

Gogo clenches her fists at her sides, finding herself extremely PO'ed about the selfishness of her friend's decision. "You said that the time you've been spending with him has made him happier. So obviously making him a child again isn't the only way to go about this! You can find another way!" she cries. "And besides all that, what will you do when his teachers start wondering where your brother is and why he isn't at school and they can't find him because he's been turned into a child? What do you think will happen then?"

Tadashi is beyond listening to reason at this point. "Do NOT judge my parenting skills!" he growls. "I have been taking care of Hiro for his entire life, I know what's best for him!" He hadn't intended to go this far, but he's being pushed to his limits, so he adds coldly, "And as for his school and everyone else? By the time that they start wondering, the two of us are probably going to be long gone."

Gogo blinks hard and takes a small step back in surprise, actually shocked into a momentary silence by this statement. Then she shakes herself out of it and leans forward, furrowing her eyebrows in disbelief. "So that's it? You're just going to give up your education and disappear with your little brother-turned-son? What about your aunt? Heck, what about us?"

Tadashi feels a moment of uncertainty at her words, and then he nods his head firmly. "If that's what it takes, yes. I want to give Hiro a chance at a better life-a chance to be happy and safe and to finally be all that he's meant to be. I know you don't understand this, but whether as my _musuko_ or my _otouto,_ I want what's best for him, and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that he gets it."

Meanwhile, back in the office, Hiro was trying not to get worried. His daddy had said that he'd be back in a few minutes. He wouldn't leave Hiro here. But the toddler couldn't shake the irrational fear that daddy wouldn't come back. Feeling anxious, the toddler stood and ran to the door, trying to open it, his body starting to tremble as he realized that he couldn't reach the knob. Panic filling him, he sank down to the floor as the walls seemed to start closing in.

"Daddy!" he shouted, weakly pounding on the door. "Daddy, where are you!" His breathing quickened as the worst case scenarios flashed through his mind. What if the bad man from earlier came back and hurt daddy? What if he really was all alone? What if daddy was really hurt and no one knew? "Daddy!"

"Oh my gosh, Hiro!" Tadashi's eyes go wide as his brain registers the sound of the little boy's voice. Everything else gets wiped clean out of his mind as slight panic takes over and he races across the lab, every possibility of things that could have gone wrong flashing through his mind. " _Musuko_!" he cries as soon as he gets the door to his office open, dropping to his knees and scooping the toddler up into his arms. "What is it? What's wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Hiro broke down sobbing uncontrollably, clutching daddy desperately. He couldn't get enough air, and he couldn't speak. All he could do was desperately clutch papa and hope he didn't leave.

"Hiro, hey, it's going to be okay!" Tadashi says, holding the boy even closer and feeling extremely worried as he starts to frantically rub the toddler's back in hopes of soothing him. "It's all right, I'm right here! You're safe!" It seriously concerns him that this was the second time in less than a twenty-four hour period that the little boy had experienced a full-on panic attack. His _otouto_ never had panic attacks-not until he'd been turned back into a toddler, anyway. The young man feels his resolve about keeping him as a kid starting to slip as this fact sinks in, but he pushes it away-he needs to concentrate on getting Hiro stable and then figure out what he's going to do. Nothing matters right now but keeping his _musuko_ safe.

Hiro's body trembled uncontrollably as he tightened his grip around his papa. An irrational fear was filling him that, if he let go, papa would leave him forever. His breathing became more erratic as he tightened his grip—if he didn't let papa go, papa couldn't leave him. A part of him knew that papa wouldn't willingly leave, but no matter what he did, his body wouldn't stop shaking. And then another thought hit the little boy-what if papa got so mad at him he left him because he was being bad? The toddler choked on a sob, barely getting enough air in.

"Oh my gosh, Hiro! Hiro, buddy, listen to me, you need to calm down!" Tadashi says, feeling panic starting to feel a slight panic build up in his own chest. He doesn't have a warm shower on hand like the night before to help the toddler get through this. So, as much as he hates to do it since the boy was so young, he gently triggers one or two of the boy's milder pressure points in hopes of helping him calm down at least enough so that he can start breathing again. "Just listen to my voice, _musuko_ ," he whispers into the toddler's ear, cuddling closer and trying to think of what he can say to comfort the obviously distraught little boy. "Just close your eyes and concentrate on what I'm saying, okay? I am right here. I am not going anywhere. I love you, and I am never, ever leaving you. You mean more to me than ANYTHING, and nothing is ever going to change that, okay?"

Hiro tried to listen to what his papa was saying, but it was hard to focus while desperately trying to get in enough air. He shut his eyes and focused on daddy's voice. He wasn't quite sure what his papa was saying, but the voice was slowly but surely helping him. The little boy forced himself to focus only on daddy's voice. Daddy would make everything better. Daddy would take care of him. Nothing bad would happen as long as he had daddy.

He wasn't sure how long he spent listening to papa's voice, but slowly his shaking became less violent and he was having a slightly easier time breathing. His iron grip didn't loosen, though, even as the trembling slowly faded and his lungs stopped crying out for air that they couldn't get. The toddler let out a weak whimper and breathlessly mumbled, "'m sorry...'m sorry..." He still felt light headed and was struggling to keep calm and not start freaking out again, but he couldn't do that to papa. He needed to be a good boy or papa would be upset. Despite his best efforts, though, his body started to tremble again in papa's arms. Why was he such a bad boy?

"Hey, hey, you did nothing wrong!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, gently stroking the toddler's raven locks and giving him an extended kiss on his forehead. "You were just having a panic attack-I have them too, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's-it's just your body telling you that you need to calm down and try to get some rest. You think you can do that for me, bud?"

Hiro nodded his head, body still trembling-he felt so tired. He was too scared to sleep, though. What if papa left while he was asleep? The little boy weakly chocked on a sob-why was he so scared? He unconsciously lifted his hand to his mouth and started sucking on his thumb, nuzzling up against papa.

Oh gosh. Hiro must be extremely, extremely freaked out if he was sucking his thumb. Tadashi doesn't know exactly what to do for the poor little boy, despite racking his brain for ideas, but he does know one thing-both of them are going to feel a lot safer within the four walls of their own house. "Just hang in there, little guy," the older of the Hamadas murmurs, pressing the tiny toddler to his chest as he stands up and starts heading out the door. "We're going to get you home where everything's going to be okay, all right?"

Gogo didn't know what to think anymore. One minute she was in a heated argument with one of her best friends, the next he was rushing through the lab to find his, er, _musuko_ and now he is walking back towards the door with said _musuko_ clutched in his arms. Maybe this was a bad time, but her natural curiosity demands to at least know what's going on here. So, with a few quick strides, she rushes to the pair's side, a worried frown marring her attempt at a still angry-looking expression as she sees the toddler's current state. "Hey, what's going on? What's wrong with Hiro?" She asks gruffly, clear concern leaking into her tough demeanor.

"Panic attack," Tadashi explains, using as few words as possible to explain the problem as he hurries through the lab. His prior anger is currently forgotten-his only concern is for that of the safety of the little boy in his arms. "I've got to get him home, _now_ , before it gets any worse."

Hiro wasn't sure what was going on, all he cared about was that he was with papa. As long as papa didn't let him go, he would be safe. He tried to relax his breathing but he couldn't. He knew that papa would keep him safe, but another part of him was sure papa didn't want him and would get rid of him the first chance he got.

GoGo frowns at her friend's response, concern etching its way onto her face. "Will he be okay?"

"I don't know," Tadashi responds, shaking his head and wearing his concern openly. "But I've got to do whatever I can to try to help him calm down."

 _Before he ends up going down the same road that I did,_ he mentally adds, a cold feeling in his heart as he remembers how a not-so-different situation had led him to places that no child should ever have been forced to go.

When Honey's mind finally caught up with what was going on, she saw that Tadashi was headed for the doors carrying what looked to be a very tired Hiro. She sees GoGo tagging along as well, and so she decides to join the large group. "Hey," she says as she catches up. "Where are you guys going?" Then noticing the toddler looked more unwell than tired, she asks, "What's wrong with Hiro?"

Tadashi, already out of his mind with worry, feels something snap inside. "Guys, just leave. us. ALONE!" he growls, turning on them both with a slight fire in his eyes. "I don't need your help, I can _handle_ this! You obviously don't think I'm capable of taking care of Hiro, but I am, and I don't need the two of you getting in the way!" He backs up a few steps, clutching the boy to his chest and feeling slightly caught off guard by his own sudden outburst. But it's too late to take it back now. "P-please, just-just leave us alone," he finally gets out, not even able to meet their eyes. Then, before anyone had a chance to say anything else, he whirls around and races out the door, wanting nothing more than to get his son to safety and leave this whole nightmare behind them.

Gogo stares after the pair, blinking a few times with surprise before shooting a worried look at her friend. "Well, that definitely could have gone better," she finally deadpans

Honey blinks back a couple of tears forming in her eyes. She had never seen or heard Tadashi act like that before. It made her ... So sad. But she had to keep it to herself as best she could. After the young man's outburst, she couldn't just throw her own sad emotions on top of it. That would just make things worse. "Yeah ... I-it could have," she agrees quietly.

Shocked by the wobbling of her friend's voice, GoGo's eyes snap over to her, a worried frown marring her features. "You okay?" she asks nervously.

Honey takes a deep breath before answering, "Yeah, I ... I'm fine." She had to stay strong, even if she felt horrible. "But it didn't seem that Tadashi or Hiro were…"

GoGo sighs and nods. "Yeah, I know… I think we need to visit them again soon. Once things calm down for them."

"Definitely."

GoGo nods before blowing a bubble and popping it. Then she sighs and shakes her head. "We'd probably need to get back to work."

"Y-yeah, you're probably right ..." Honey agrees.

GoGo attempts a smile, pausing nervously before hugging her friend, the significant height difference making it a bit awkward but the message getting across anyway. When she steps back, she says "They'll be okay."

 _Or at least I hope so…_ she mentally adds.


	20. Chapter 20

Hiro wanted to know where daddy was taking him, but he couldn't open his eyes, he felt trapped in his body and it trembled uncontrollably. He couldn't even breathe properly-his lungs were begging for air but he just couldn't give them enough. The boy let out a tiny whimper, unable to do anything but weakly suck his thumb and hope that papa could help him.

Tadashi feels a slight fear gripping his chest-he can tell that Hiro's getting worse, but he has no idea what to do for him. He hurries through the halls, not even looking where he's going as he makes his desperate journey towards the door. He could only hope that getting the toddler home would do something to help him. In his haste, he accidentally knocks into a few people, but aside from calling hasty apologies over his shoulder, he doesn't stop or even slacken his pace. Just as he's rounding the last corner leading to the exit, however, he has a full-on body collision with someone and he stumbles back a few paces.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" he apologizes, shaking his head slightly to clear his vision. "This is sort of an emergency, and I totally wasn't looking where I was going-" He gasps slightly and his eyes go wide with shock and recognition as he catches sight of the young man that he'd just ran into. "A-Aurebesh?" he stammers.

Aurebesh managed to regain his balance and was about to say something when the person who had just ran into him stammered out his name. Confused, the student looked over the young man, trying to figure out how he knew him and why he seemed somewhat familiar. Unable to place a name with the face, he's finally forced to ask, "I'm sorry, but how do I know you?"

"Oh, right..." Tadashi feels himself turning slightly red as he realizes that the last time he and Aurebesh had run into each other was back when he'd been genderswapped-wow, had that only been two days ago? It feels like so much longer. "Um, we met at the comic convention on Saturday," the young man finally answers, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Only I was sort of a girl at the time and my hair was a lot more on the pink side?"

"Tadashi!" Aurebesh exclaimed. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you! Well it seems you've gotten yourself back to normal! How di-..." His question was interrupted when he noticed the trembling child in Tadashi's arms.

"Is this little guy ok?" he asked, a concerned frown making its way onto his face.

"I don't know," Tadashi admits, shaking his head slightly and hugging the toddler closer as he hears him letting out another tiny whimper. "He's having a really bad panic attack, and I'm trying to get him home where he'll hopefully feel safer."

"Do you have a ride?" Aurebesh questioned, feeling bad for the little guy, whoever he was. "If not, I was just heading out and I could drop you off at home."

"R-really?" Tadashi feels extremely relieved. "Oh my gosh, that would be amazing! I hate to impose, but I really don't want to have to take him on the streetcar right now-he hates those on a good day, and in his current state, I really don't want to think about how he'd react."

"Yeah, those things can be a bit intimidating," the other young man agrees sympathetically. "Here, follow me!" He waves for Tadashi to follow him, and together they make their way through the school and out to his van. Once they were safely inside the vehicle, Aurebesh finally finds it appropriate to ask, "So, who is the little guy?"

"Oh." Tadashi has a momentary brain freeze, realizing that he had yet to explain that to the older boy. "Um, I you've actually met him before... This is Hiro."

"That's Hiro?!" Aurebesh exclaimed. "What happened to him? Why... how do you two keep getting into these crazy shenanigans?"

"Invention gone wrong," Tadashi explains before answering the second question with one of his Aunt's old expressions: "Tell me and we'll both know."

"All right then…" Aurebesh shakes his head slightly and then finally thinks asks, "Um, before we go any further, where am I going?"

Tadashi gives him directions to the Lucky Cat Cafe, and then the young man settles back into the seat, gently stroking the hair of the little boy in his arms. At least Hiro had stopped shaking for the moment, although he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. "You're going to be okay, musuko," he whispers softly, trying to do what he can to make him comfortable. "I've got you, and we're going to be home soon, so just try to hang in there for me, okay?"

Hiro was exhausted. He couldn't have moved even if he wanted to. He felt his daddy's hands in his hair and wanted to tell him to not stop, to stay with him, but he couldn't find the energy to do more than weakly pry his eyes open and whisper, "Daddy..."

"It's all right, _musuko_ ," Tadashi says softly, continuing to use his fingers to card through Hiro's raven locks even as he can feel Aurebesh's eyes boring into him.

" _Daddy_?" the older boy asks, raising a confused eyebrow. "Okay, you're going to have to explain this one to me, because I cannot even think of anything that would vaguely explain this, unless there's something you're not telling me."

"Um... it's another very long story," the younger man answers with a slight sigh, trying to keep his voice low so as not to disturb the toddler in his lap. "I can't explain it in front Hiro, but if you'd be willing to come in for a minutes once we get to my Aunt's house and we've waited for him to calm down some..."

"Say no more." Aurebesh nods his head in an understanding way, although Tadashi can sense that he definitely picks up the speed of his driving for the last couple of miles.

Hiro felt a small spark of relief when they reached the cafe and daddy carried him inside. But that spark quickly sizzled out and he felt painfully empty again. He didn't know why he felt like this-all he could figure was that he _needed_ daddy to stay with him. He didn't know what he'd do if daddy left.

"You feeling any better, bud?" Tadashi asks as he walks into the living room with his musuko, Aurebesh following at a respectful distance behind the two. He takes a seat on the couch, still cradling the toddler in his arms and motioning for the other young man to take a seat wherever he was most comfortable.

Hiro curled up against papa shivering weakly. He felt... empty. The more time that passed, the more he was sure papa would get sick of him and leave.

"'M sorry papa... please don't hate me..." he whispered.

"What? Hiro, I don't hate you!" Tadashi cries, feeling slightly alarmed as he clutches the little boy to his chest. "Why would you even think that? I love you more than anything-more than everyone else in the world combined! You're my musuko, and you're everything to me! If I did something to make you feel unloved at all, I am so, so, so sorry! Just tell me what I need to do to show you that I really do love you! Please..." He bows his head, feeling a tear coursing down his cheek at the idea that somehow all of the pain that his son was experiencing was because of him.

"I'm a bad boy..." Hiro whispered, feeling a small spark of hope. Maybe papa didn't hate him. He deserved to be hated, though. "Made you leave school cuz I'm...I freaked out over nothing..." He felt a tear sliding down his cheek but didn't have the energy to wipe it off.

"No, no you're not!" Tadashi quickly protests, wiping the little boy's tears away. "Hiro, do you know how many times I've had panic attacks over what would seem like absolutely nothing to others? You can't control these things, and when they happen, the people who really love you should be willing to be there for you, no matter what. If anything, I'm the one who's feeling completely inadequate because I didn't know what to do for you... I couldn't help you... my own musuko..." His voice cracks slightly with emotion at the end.

Hiro buried his face in papa's chest, shaking. "You're a good papa..." he whispered, wishing he could make his papa happy again. "I love you papa... more than anyone... Do you still love me?"

"Hiro, I've loved you since you were born, I love you now, and I am never, EVER going to stop loving you!" Tadashi answers, wrapping his arms even more tightly around his _musuko_ , trembling slightly from the strong assertion but meaning every word of it.

Hiro snuggled up closer to his papa and started crying. He couldn't understand why papa loved him so much, but he did. He only hoped he could show papa how much he meant to him. The little boy wasn't sure how long he lay curled up in papa's arms, but he soon found his eyes growing heavier and heavier, warmth slowly seeping back into his limbs and calling him into the land of dreams. He couldn't sleep, though-papa was still sad. He needed to make papa happy, just like he always did for him.

"It's okay," Tadashi croons softly, glad that the toddler seemed to finally be relaxing and actually beginning to drift off. "You go ahead and get some sleep-I promise that Papa will be right here when you wake up."

"Can't... Gotta make you happy, papa..." Hiro slurred, eyelids growing heavy.

"It will make me happy to know that you're safe and getting some rest in," Tadashi answers, smiling down at the exhausted toddler and cuddling him closer.

Hiro slowly nodded his head and snuggled closer to his papa, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Aurebesh watched the pair in silence, waiting until he thought the little boy was sleeping before asking, "So... what's going on with you two?"

"Ah, that." Tadashi smiles somewhat sheepishly as he realizes that the young man had been watching the whole exchange-which, of course, was only to be expected and technically he had invited him in, but it was still a tiny bit embarrassing. "Um, well... I guess first off I should explain how Hiro got this way?"

"That would be good," Aurebesh agreed. "I'd also like to know why he keeps calling you papa."

"Okay," Tadashi responds, turning a shade redder. "So, about two days ago, the two of us were hanging out and decided to randomly build an invention-y'know, sort of to de-stress after all of the genderbend craziness? Well, Hiro came up with the idea of turning our cat, Mochi, back into a kitten for a few days as a surprise for our aunt who's currently out of town. Long story short, while we were activating the ray that was supposed to do that, Mochi ran off, Hiro tried to catch him, he got in the way of the blast and, well, I think you can figure out what happened from there." He gestures to the sleeping toddler in his lap.

"Okay I understand that," Aurebesh says with a slow nod. "But why does he keep calling you 'papa'?"

"To be honest... I'm really not clear on that myself," Tadashi admits. He debates bringing up the whole dream thing, but, not wanting to sound crazy, he just answers, "When we were kids, Hiro always used to get confused thinking that I was his dad-I guess it was because our parents died when he was only three and I was the closest thing that he had to a real father. All I can figure out for why he's thinking that now is that when he went back to the mental state of being a toddler, he sort of went back to thinking that I was his _otousan_ as well."

"He'll change back, though, right?" Aurebesh asked, watching the young man protectively cradling Hiro.

"Well... he's _supposed_ to go back to normal tomorrow evening," Tadashi replies, although his voice obviously betrayed his misgivings on the subject.

"It almost sounds like you're not happy about that," Aurebesh informed him, sounding concerned.

"Um..." Tadashi rubs the back of his neck and lets out a long sigh. "I-I've got a lot to think about, honestly."

"What's there to think about?" Aurebesh asked in confusion. "He'll be back to normal—isn't that a good thing?"

"Well... it's a little bit more complicated than that," Tadashi sighs. "I mean, right now Hiro's really, really happy-the happiest I've seen him probably in _years_. He's been through so much rough stuff, especially of late, and it's put him on some not-so-good paths. Right now, he sort of has a chance to start over-maybe to be able to live the life he could have had if he hadn't gone through all of the bullying that he did and dealing with growing up without any parents. How could I not want to give him that opportunity?"

"Well... I mean, on the one hand I get wanting to give your siblings a chance to be happy... " Aurbesh says slowly. "On the other, though, do you think this is what Hiro would want? I mean... it sounds like you're seriously considering this and it just doesn't seem fair to Hiro. I mean, even if you asked him to make a decision right now, he's a little young to really understand the consequences of the choice he'd be making. "

"I know," Tadashi admits, finally forcing himself to be honest about the situation. "And I don't want to do anything to hurt him. But, the truth is... I think I'm having a hard time letting all of this go. These last couple of days, getting to be Hiro's dad... They've been nothing short of amazing. I've never felt anything like this before, and getting to see that look in hiss eyes when he looks up at me and calls me 'otousan'... It's got to be the best feeling in the whole world." He hangs his head slightly as he adds, "I know, you must think I'm a horrible person for being selfish about all of this..."

"I don't think you're a horrible person. I think you want what's best for your brother, and I completely understand that," Aurebesh reassured him. "But Hiro being kept a child might not be what's best. I mean, just based on what I've seen, he doesn't seem to be in the healthiest condition-he was having a pretty bad panic attack there a few minutes ago."

"I know, and that's what's got me worried," Tadashi admits, looking down at the little boy in his arms. "Hiro's never had panic attacks before-like, ever! I have no idea what's been bringing them on, except... Well, he keeps saying something about being afraid of losing me?"

"Has something happened that made him think he'd lose you?" Aurebesh asked, confused.

"Well..." Tadashi turns slightly red. "There was an incident where we had a robber break into the house and things... well, they could have gotten sort of nasty."

"Maybe that triggered something for Hiro," Aurebesh mumbled. "That's a pretty big thing for a kid to go through, almost losing a parent. At the end of the day, do really you want Hiro growing up with that sort of crippling anxiety?"

"NO!" Tadashi answers instantly, hugging the little boy in his arms closer. "I would never want him to have to live with something like that!"

Aurebesh watched as Hiro snuggled closer against the young man and continued, knowing he needed to tread carefully, "From the looks of it... that's how he would live if you kept him as a child."

Tadashi bites his lip, not wanting to admit that Aurebesh was right, but knowing that he was. "It's... it's just going to be so hard losing all of this," the elder Hamada finally says, his voice trembling slightly as he looks down at the younger boy in his arms. "I mean... there's a chance that he isn't going to remember anything of what happened... of what we..." He can't even finish the sentence, burying his face in Hiro's hair and beginning to rub the boy's back in quick, distressed strokes.

"I get that it's hard," Aurebesh assured, reaching out and placing a supporting hand on Tadashi's shoulder. "But, if it's what's best for Hiro... Well, older brothers need to protect their siblings, right?"

Tadashi feels a tiny jolt at that. Being Hiro's older brother... Honestly, that was something he'd completely pushed out of his mind for the past few days. He'd gone so completely into the role of being Hiro's dad that he hadn't even paused to think that, in gaining a _musuko_ , he might be losing his _otouto_. Looking down again at the boy in his arms, suddenly all he can see is the teenage version of him-the adorable, quirky, over-enthusiastic, snarky, and amazing little brother that he loves so, so much. How had he been so willing to throw that all away? Yes, maybe the teen's life isn't perfect-but then again, whose was? And Tadashi was always going to be there to do whatever he could to make sure that, either as his musuko or otouto, Hiro had the best one possible.

"Thank you," Tadashi says finally, looking up and giving Aurebesh a watery smile. "For reminding me about what's really important."

"You're welcome," Aurebesh replied with a slight smile before starting to get up. "And, with that, I should probably be getting back to my own family."

"Oh, of course!" Tadashi gets up, Hiro still wrapped firmly in his arms, and starts leading Aurebesh to the door. "How are Ace and Crystal doing, by the way?" he asks curiously as they make their way through the halls.

"They're doing pretty good," Aurebesh responds with a smile. "Maybe they're not doing anything as crazy as getting genderbent or age-changing, but they're definitely still making my life interesting," he adds jokingly. "Ace is keeping pretty busy at the lab working on his VR projects and Crystal... Well, she's been doing her fanfiction writing or craft projects when she isn't doing school work. Oh, which reminds me..." The older boy reaches into his bag and pulls out his phone. Before Tadashi can even ask what's he's doing, the flash suddenly goes off and the elder Hamada is momentarily blinded.

"What on Earth-?" Tadashi starts to complain as his vision comes back, only cutting himself off when he hears Aurebesh's amused chuckle.

"Sorry," the older boy apologizes with a slight grin. "Crystal made me promise that if I ran into you at the lab that I'd get a picture of what you looked like when you're normal. Throw in the fact that she's going to get to see Hiro as a toddler, she's probably going to be bouncing off the walls for a good hour or so when I get home and show her this."

"You could have just asked before scaring me like that..." Tadashi mildly grumbles, although he can't be too mad at the boy after everything he'd done that afternoon.

"Where's the fun in that?" Aurebesh responds with a playful wink. He pulls the door open to let himself out. "Don't be a stranger around the lab, okay?" he says, turning around before he starts off down the stairs. "Me and Ace's office number is 124, and you should definitely come by sometime to play some video games or something if you ever need a study break. Maybe we can even get Crystal to stop by sometime so we can all hang out together!"

"Sounds like a plan," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin, waving as the other young man heads off down the main walk and back out to his van. Then he closes and locks the door, letting out a tiny sigh of both sadness and relief as he leans his head up against it. This morning/afternoon had been both crazy and emotionally taxing, and he can't help but feel slightly exhausted by it all as he makes his way back out into the living room and sinks down onto the couch.

Hiro wasn't sure what papa was saying or who he was talking to, but he didn't care as long as papa kept holding him. He nuzzled up against his daddy and drifted off once more.

Deciding to let the exhaustion overtake him, Tadashi curls up on the cushions, the toddler cuddled tight to his chest, and drifts off into a peaceful sleep.

A few hours later, Hiro slowly opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in his bedroom, like he usually was after waking up from a nap, but with papa in the family room. He felt too drained to really care that much about the fact, though, and so contented himself to curl up against papa and wait for him to wake up.

Tadashi eventually comes to and smiles as he looks down at the toddler who's still nuzzled up against him. "Hey," he says softly a minute later once realizes that the his musuko's actually awake, reaching down to stroke the boy's hair. "How are you feeling?"

Hiro shrugged slightly and nuzzled up against papa. He didn't really want to do anything but just stay right where he was with papa. As long as papa stayed with, him everything would be okay.

Fairly satisfied with that answer, Tadashi sleepily checks the time on the clock on the wall-one o clock in the afternoon. "You want some lunch?" he asks the younger boy, yawning slightly as he sits up and stretches.

"I guess..." Hiro mumbled, not feeling very hungry but knowing papa wouldn't be happy if he didn't eat.

"Hm..." Tadashi considers the expression on the little boy's face and guesses that he's probably not feeling terribly up to eating. Honestly, he usually wasn't that hungry either right off the bat when he woke up from passing out after a panic attack, but getting some food in both of their systems would definitely help them feel better. "How about I make us some super special bento boxes?" he asks after a moment's thought about what would maybe tempt the toddler's taste buds.

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled, trying to sound a little more enthusiastic for his papa. He knew papa wanted him to eat, but mostly he just wanted to curl up in papa's arms and maybe sleep some more.

"All right then, let's see if we can't get some yummy food in our tummies, huh?" Tadashi says teasingly, scooping the toddler up and purposefully tickling his stomach gently to try to get him to smile.

Hiro let out a small giggle, snuggling up against his papa.

Tadashi grins at the little boy's reaction, thrilled that he'd actually gotten him to smile. "What sort of sandwich do you want?" he asks, gently playing with the toddler's soft locks as he starts heading towards the kitchen.

Hiro snuggled up against papa and mumbled, "Cheese sandwich?"

"Cheese sandwiches it is," Tadashi agrees, starting to set the little boy down onto the counter so that he can get the ingredients for lunch together. But then, remembering the panic attacks that occurred whenever the toddler was left alone even for a short period of time, he realizes that he's going to have to do something to keep the little guy from freaking out. After a moment's thought, he pulls off his blazer and wraps it around the boy's shoulders. "There," he says softly, crossing the empty sleeves over Hiro's chest. "It's not perfect, but will that be enough like me holding you so that you'll be okay while I'm making lunch?"

Hiro nodded his head and wrapped the blazer more tightly around him, sheepishly asking, "Can I have some paper to draw on?"

"Absolutely!" Tadashi agrees, pulling some paper and crayons out of the junk drawer and handing them to the toddler. He was just glad that the little boy was feeling okay with all of this and would have done about anything to make sure that he stayed that way.

"Thanks daddy..." Hiro mumbled and began to draw, occasionally looking up to check on his papa just to make sure that he was still there.

Tadashi prepares the lunches as quickly as he can without making a mess and ruining the special surprise. He makes them cheese sandwiches made to look like cats along with little pieces of fruit cut into the shapes of fish, and, for a finishing touch, he adds little _onigiri_ with pocky sticks so they'll look like balls of yarn with knitting needles stuck in them. "Here we go!" he announces cheerfully, setting the bentos down carefully on the kitchen table before carrying Hiro over and setting him down in his chair. "You ready for some lunch, little guy?"

"Kitty?" Hiro asked, looking at the plates daddy had set out in front of him curiously.

"Mm hm!' Tadshi agrees with a slight smile, handing the little boy a pair of chopsticks. "Is that okay?"

"Yea... It matches my kitty..." Hiro whispered holding up a drawing of his friend from the zoo. "Do you like it daddy?" the toddler whispered, nervous that he wouldn't like it.

"It's amazing!" Tadashi answers with a huge grin-he really was never going to get over how adorable Hiro's doodles were. Part of him is sad as he realizes just how much he's going to miss the spontaneous art projects that the boy did as a toddler. But then, as he looks down at the paper, a new thought strikes him: just how often did Hiro do something similar when he would bring his latest robot to his niisan for inspection, or would flop onto the elder boy's bed while he was trying to work on a homework assignment because he was going to "explode" if he couldn't get some idea for a new invention off of his chest. Tadashi looks down at the toddler and can't help but smile again-he and grown up Hiro were the same kid, really. It was just going to take starting to look at things from a new angle to see that-and if anyone was a master at learning to see things from a new angle, it was Tadashi.

Coming back to the present, he realizes that Hiro's probably waiting for something more of a response and so he quickly continues on, "What do you say, buddy, should we put this one on the fridge?"

"You think it's good enough?" Hiro asked, perking up slightly. Daddy always seemed to know how to make him feel better.

"It's more than good enough!" Tadashi answers, surprised that the little boy would even doubt his own abilities. Picking up the drawing, he heads over to the refrigerator and sticks it right onto the front with magnets. "There! Perfect!" he says with a satisfied nod before turning back the toddler. "What do you think, that look all right?"

Hiro nodded and took a bite of his sandwich, saying, "Thank you, daddy!"

"Not a problem, _musuko_ ," Tadashi replies, his smile slightly sad as he returns to the table. Honestly, this is one of the last times he's going to be able to call Hiro that. He does honestly want his brother back at this point, but he's really going to miss all of this-he seriously doubts that teenage Hiro would ever let him call him "son", even if it's in Japanese. He nibbles quietly on his own sandwich for a few minutes, lost in bittersweet thoughts. Then, suddenly, he shakes himself, forcing the darkness away. He still has almost one whole day with the boy as a toddler and, so help him, he was going to make the most of it!

"So, um, Hiro, if you could do anything-anything at all this afternoon," he begins, turning to the toddler, "what would you do?"

Hiro shrugged slightly before awkwardly clamoring into papa's lap. "I just want to stay here with you..." he answered, snuggling up against him.

Okay, well, that was somewhat vague but also completely adorable. Tadashi cradles the little boy in his arms, trying to think of something that they could do that would be memorable yet wouldn't require the child to really do anything since, as it seemed, the toddler's tolerance level wasn't for anything much beyond snuggling. He tried to think of something from their own childhood that Hiro had enjoyed, but all he could think of was Saturday mornings when they'd watch the kids' animes that would come on TV... Hey, wait, maybe there was something to that!

"Hey, Hiro?" he asks with a slight smile. "How would you like to watch some cartoons?"

"Okay..." the toddler mumbled, nuzzling against papa. "Can I keep wearing this?" he added, awkwardly flapping the sleeve of papa's blazer.

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, honestly finding the whole thing ridiculously cute. "Let's go ahead and finish our lunches real quick, and then we'll see what's on-deal?" Honestly, he hates trying to force the boy to eat, but the poor little guy had missed far too many meals in the short time that he'd been a toddler, and the elder Hamada was seriously beginning to feel concerned about what deleterious effects it might be having on his health.

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled, forcing himself to take a bite of his sandwich.

"Good boy!" Tadashi says encouragingly. Deciding to see if making the eating process a little bit more fun would help, he uses his chopsticks to pick up a fish-shaped strawberry and directs it towards his son's mouth. "Is the hungry kitty going to eat the fishy? Om nom nom!" He makes silly eating noises to try to encourage his musuko to eat.

Hiro looked questioningly at the stick before slowly taking a bite, knowing it would make papa happy.

"There you go!" Tadashi practically beams down at the toddler. "Okay, just a couple more bites and then we can watch cartoons, okay?"

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled, slowly eating several more bites.

"Awesome job, buddy!" Tadashi tells him encouragingly. Knowing that the boy had probably eaten as much as he was going to for the time being, he scrapes the leftovers off into his own box so that he can finish it off later and then scoops the younger up into his arms. "All right, you ready for some fun cartoon time?" he asks, starting off into the living room.

Hiro snugged up against papa and nodded his head, content to just be held by papa.

Tadashi allow himself a contented sigh of pleasure as the little boy nuzzles into him and then settles them both down onto the couch. He uses the remote to flip through the channels, trying to find something that would be both entertaining and appropriate for the toddler, and comes to a stop on a channel that's showing a fairly light-hearted looking anime. After a few seconds of watching, he realizes that it's a rerun of _Neko No Mandai_ and he almost bursts out laughing at the irony, remembering the events of Saturday.

Hiro tried to focus on the T.V. show playing, but he was enjoying being help by papa too much.

The elder Hamada happily enjoys spending the afternoon watching anime and snuggling with the little boy. He tries to memorize exactly what this feels like so that he'll be able to remember it when Hiro's back to being a teenager. Honestly, what they were doing may not have seemed like much to other people, but to Tadashi, it was one of the best things he'd done in a long, long time. When the sun starts to go down, though, he realizes that it's time to start thinking about dinner-even though they hadn't really done anything, it was still a good idea to try to get some sort of food in their systems. "What do you think, _musuko_?" he asks, forcing himself back up into an upright position from where he'd been lying on the cushions with his arms wrapped around the toddler. "Does pizza sound good for supper?"

"With stuffed crust?" Hiro asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, pulling out his phone. "What toppings do you want?"

Hiro shrugged and mumbled, "I like cheese... and gummy bears..."

"Um... maybe some sausage instead?" Tadashi suggest, knowing from experience that melted gummies honestly didn't taste that good-plus, he seriously doubted that the pizza parlor actually had gummy bears to put on the pizza. "We can have gummy bear sundaes for dessert after dinner?" he adds, hoping that this will appease the toddler.

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled, snuggling up again papa. "Thank you..."

"Thank you for being an amazing _musuko_ ," Tadashi answers softly, leaning down to gently kiss the little boy's head. Then, his growling stomach pulling him out of the emotional moment, he dials in the pizza parlor's number and gives them the order. The person on the other end says that their food will arrive in about half an hour, so once he hangs up the elder boy decides that that's plenty of time to get in another glomp session and so happily goes back to snuggling with his musuko. Unfortunately, he gets so into it that by the time the doorbell rings, he honestly doesn't want to leave the couch. Knowing that it's a necessary evil, however, he forces himself to get up and, still holding the toddler, makes his way to the front entryway. He opens the door, planning on just taking the box from the delivery person and thanking him when he suddenly has to do a double take. Oh, no. Oh no oh no oh no! It can't be...

The delivery guy could hardly believe it. He was going to deliver _another_ pizza to the beautiful girl's house! It was a sign that they were meant to be, he just knew it! When a strange man opened the door holding a small child, however, he was completely caught off guard.

"Hey! Where's the girl?" he blurts out without even thinking about how rude it might sound. After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, however, he realized that the man looked a lot like the girl, so maybe they were related! If that was the case, there was still hope!

Okay, yes, yes it was the slightly creepy delivery guy from before and, quite obviously, he had not gotten over his crush on female Tadashi. Realizing that he was going to have to do something if he didn't want this person to be forever bothering them, the elder Hamada decides to take matters into his own hands. Hoping that he'd be forgiven for lying like this (and that this plan wouldn't somehow backfire on him), he narrows his eyes like he's seriously ticked off and says in a deadly serious voice, "Oh, so you must be the guy who was hitting on my wife!"

"W-w-wife!" the delivery guy shouted, momentarily horrified. Shoot, the girl was married?! But once he gets over his initial shock, he narrows his eyes and said, "No way! You guys can't be married-you look exactly alike!"

Hiro frowned and looked up at daddy, feeling confused. Mommy? Why hadn't he ever met his mama? Where was she?

"Is there a problem that the girl I fell in love with and I look similar?" Tadashi challenges.

"It makes me wonder if you're lying to keep me from my true love!" the delivery man declared.

Tadashi feels a slight spark of fear at that, and then of anger. "Okay, seriously, dude, what is wrong with you?" he demands. "I've heard of obsessions, but this is bordering on stalkerish! Why can't you leave well enough alone?"

"You just want to keep us apart, but I won't let you!" the delivery guy shoots back, trying to make his around the evil man. "I'll find you, my love!" he shouts, hoping that his beloved could hear him.

"Wow, really?" Tadashi lets out an exasperated sigh, using one arm to easily keep the guy from being able to get through the door. For two seconds, he seriously considers just slamming the door in the jerk's face, but he knows that that isn't going to stop this guy-he'd probably just break in or something equally as disturbing.

"All right, you want the truth?" he finally asks, feeling the back of his neck grow slightly warm but knowing that he's going to have to do this if he ever wants to get the guy to ever leave them alone.

"Where is my love?"

"Hiro, cover your ears," Tadashi says, looking down at the little boy. The last thing he needs right now is for toddler to be even more freaked out and confused than he already probably is.

"Okay daddy..." Hiro mumbled, covering his ears and burying his face in papas shoulder.

Tadashi feels somewhat relieved that the little boy's actually following instructions, although it's hard to feel fully at ease with what he's about to have to do. "All right, you're sure that you want the truth?" he asks the delivery guy, trying to delay this as long as possible.

"What have you done to her?" the other boy asked, fear filling him. Had this horrible person harmed his beloved?

"Absolutely nothing," Tadashi responds, leaning up against the door frame and putting his free hand on his hip. "She's standing right here."

"You're crazy!" the delivery guy shouted after a moment of stunned silence. "You're a _dude_! She's a beautiful woman!"

"Yeah, um... 'bout that. I happened to be genderbent at the time," Tadashi replies with a shrug, trying to act completely nonchalant, as if that was something that happened on a regular basis. "You got a problem with that, 'tiger'?" he adds sarcastically, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You're lying! That's crazy! People's genders don't just change! Take me to my love!"

"Okay, really?" Tadashi facepalms. "Seriously, what do I have to do for you to believe me?"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that you're her?"

"Do I need to put on a skirt or something?" Tadashi fires back before sighing and stepping to the side. "Tell you what-we'll make this faster. You can come in, take a look around, but I promise you, you're not going to find anything."

"Yes!" the delivery guy exclaimed, rushing inside the house to find her. As he searched though, he quickly found there was no sign of her anywhere, not even a photo. There were pictures of a different woman, but not her.

"Believe me yet?" Tadashi asks, coming to watch him with slight amusement after having settled Hiro safely in the kitchen with paper and crayons and promises that "Daddy would be right back after sending the weird and slightly confused but completely harmless man on his way."

"Wha... how...?" the delivery guy sighed in defeat. She wasn't real. And he would always be alone. "Why don't girls like me?"

"Dude, trust me, I know from working in my Aunt's cafe-having girls falling all over you isn't what it's cracked up to be," Tadashi replies, giving him a half smile and actually feeling somewhat sorry for the guy. "It's actually usually just really weird and uncomfortable. And I know it really bites having your heart broken-heck, I just got turned down by the girl I thought I was in love with two days ago, and it still hurts like crazy. But, I guess... You just have to learn to pick up the pieces and, sometimes, you end up finding out that there are more important things in your life. Like with me." He nods towards the kitchen. "I realized that right now I need to be concentrating on spending more time with my little bro, not wasting my time on a romance I'm honestly not really ready for. So... yeah. I don't know if any of that helped, but hey, maybe you got something you can take away from it?"

"Love stinks..." the guy grumbled, slumping out of the house. He'd never love again!

"Hey, whoa, hold on!" Tadashi can't help but follow after him-he honestly doesn't want to be responsible for completely crushing this poor guy's spirit. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he whirls the teen around and looks him right in the eyes. "Look, I don't know you personally, so I can't do this as well as I would for my little brother, but listen to me-I'm sure that you're a very nice guy, and as far as I can tell, aside from having stalkerish tendencies, you have nothing wrong with you. You've got a stable job which, based on the two times you've been here, you do very well at. You're not some obvious punk or criminal type. And apparently you're a romantic at heart who's just looking for true love. Any girl would be lucky to have you! With all of that going for you, there is no way in hey that you are not going to find the right one in time. You've just... got to be patient. Which, I know is easier said than done. But don't give up so easily, okay?"

"Maybe..." the delivery guy agreed. "I've got to get back to work... Sorry for wasting your time..."

"Hey, no need to apologize," Tadashi reassures him, letting the somewhat awkward pep talk come to a close. As the guy starts to head off, though, he remembers something and calls after him, "Oh, one more thing!"

"Yeah?" the guy asked, feeling extremely embarrassed and wanting to leave and never come back.

"Just... leave off the pickup lines, okay?" Tadashi responds, wincing slightly. "Trust me... It's _really_ uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of those. Try for regular, honest compliments, they go over _much_ better."

"Right, uh… Okay, now I really have to go," the delivery guy said, half-running back to the car.

Tadashi's not sure if he feels more pity or amusement towards the guy-honestly, the teen's whole world had probably just been unceremoniously turned on its head-but he decides not to worry about it too much. He'd done all that he could to help him, and anything beyond that was out of his control. Picking the pizza up from where it had been left on the hall table, the elder Hamadas heads back into the kitchen to check on his _musuko_. "Hey, buddy!" he greets the little boy as he enters the room, quickly surveying the child for any signs of a panic attack. Aside from looking just a little bit on the nervous side, it appears that the toddler had actually gotten through the whole ordeal fairly well. Feeling a swell of pride in his chest, Tadashi puts the box down on the table and then scoops the boy up into his arms. "Who's my good little guy?" he coos, cuddling the toddler close to his chest.

Hiro nuzzled against papa and mumbled, "I was good?" He hated seeing papa disappointed in him.

"Better than good," Tadashi replies, unable to keep from coddling the toddler. He kisses the little boy on the top of his head, and then asks with a smile, "So, is my favorite nerd ready for some pizza?"

Hiro let a small grin cross his face as he continued to cuddle papa and nodded his head.

"All right then!" Tadashi grins, allowing himself to just enjoy the feeling of the toddler's head on his shoulder for a moment, and then heads over to the cabinet to grab some plates. "I think we're going to have a little celebration tonight," he announces as he starts setting the table with his free hand.

"Why?" Hiro mumbled, tightly holding onto papa.

"Just celebrating the two of us being together, that's all," Tadashi replies, hugging the little boy. "And celebrating what an awesome _musuko_ you are."

"You're a great daddy," Hiro whispered. "The best daddy in the universe!"

Tadashi can't help but feel his heart melt slightly at that, and he squeezes the boy a little tighter. Still, he forces himself not to hold the hug out for too long—he knows that if he lets this go on it will just turn into another snuggle fest and, as much as he wants that, it would be good for them to maybe finally get an actual meal in. "C'mon, let's dig in before the pizza gets cold, huh?" he says, gently mussing the toddler's raven locks.

Hiro carefully reached out for a slice of pizza saying, "Thank you, daddy!" His daddy was the best. He fed Hiro, took care of him, cuddled him when he got scared and gave him gummy bears! As much as he loved his daddy, though, he wanted to know who his mommy was. "Papa? Who is my momma?" he asks curiously.

Tadashi almost chokes on his own pizza. Oh, gosh, how was he supposed to answer that? Shoot, this was totally his own fault for lying about being married in front of the toddler. For a minute his brain scrambles for an explanation. Then, taking a deep breath, he decides to go with the truth-or, at least as close to it as he could come. "Hiro... would you be mad at me if I told you that... well, that I'm not your dad biologically?" he finally begins in a quiet voice. He quickly hurries to add, "I mean, I am definitely your _otousan_ , and I love you more than anything, more than any father ever could! But, I wasn't exactly involved in, well... in your actually being born."

"You're not my dad?" Hiro slowly asked, his chest feeling tight. He lied? Where were his real parents? Did they not want him? Had papa just gotten stuck with him?

"No, Hiro, I am your dad!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, stroking the boy's hair to try to alleviate the stress that both of them were feeling. "I'm just not... not your _birth_ dad." He hangs his head slightly as the dark memories come back to him from those early days, following the accident, and he has to try to sift through them to quickly form a coherent story. "Your... your biological parents died a long time ago, in a car crash. You could say that-well that I was really, really close to them, and it was as horrible losing them for me as it was for you." He can't help but grit his teeth and feel a slight anger flash through him as he remembers the funeral and the weeks following it. "After everything settled down, there were some people who wanted to send you-send you some place very far away to stay with some relatives. But I told them that I wanted you-I wanted you more than anything in the world, Hiro, more than life itself! Those people didn't want us to be together... They didn't think that I could handle taking care of you. But I fought them, Hiro-I fought them with everything that I had. I fought them until they finally had to give in and let me keep you, because there was no way that I was ever, ever going to lose my _musuko_!"

Hiro looked up at his papa with awe in his eyes, "You're not my biolocal daddy but you wanted me anyways?" He couldn't focus on his "real" parents-they were gone, and right now he had the best daddy in the world, even if he wasn't a biolocal one. He'd fought for Hiro and loved him even if they weren't technically family. He _wanted_ him, just like he wanted papa.

"Hiro, you're the only thing I ever want or need!" Tadashi answers, hugging the boy close. "I-I don't know what I'd ever do without you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and you are what keeps me going, no matter how hard things get! I love you more than words could ever say. Maybe I'm not that great at showing it, and maybe I do make a lot of mistakes, but I hope you can at least somewhat see how very, very much I care about you."

Hiro nuzzled against papa and wrapped his arms around him as best he could. "I love you, papa. You're the bestest daddy ever!"

"And you're the best otouto ever," Tadashi responds, pulling the little boy closer to his chest and burying his nose into his hair, trying to keep the toddler from being able to see the tears that were starting to form in his eyes.

Hiro wanted to just stay here and cuddle with papa all day, but his stomach had other ideas. After a few minutes of simply hugging each other, it let out a loud growl, making the toddler giggle.

"Sounds like we're definitely both in need of some food," Tadashi chuckles, releasing the little boy slightly. "We'd better get some of this pizza into your stomach before you get so hungry that you turn into the pizza monster!"

"But what if want to be a pizza monster?" Hiro asked.

"What would you do if you were a pizza monster?" Tadashi asks with a slight laugh, picking his slice up from where he'd left it on the table.

"I'd eat all the pizza in the universe!" Hiro declared, grabbing a slice for himself and happily starting to munch on it.

"Well, you might get a tummy ache if you ate all of that," Tadashi teases gently, mussing the toddler's hair with his free hand.

"No, I'm the pizza monster! And pizza monsters don't get tummy aches!"

"I'll give you that!" Tadashi laughs. "But wait, if you're the pizza monster... that means you're made up of tasty pizza and I can eat you!" He glomps onto the younger boy and pretends to start eating him, making silly "om nom nom" noises as he does so.

"No! Don't eat me, papa!" Hiro laughed, trying to squirm away. "I'm not yummy! I eat pizza, not am made of pizza!"

"All right, I won't eat you then," Tadashi replies with a teasing wink.

"Thank you, daddy!" the little boy giggled, reaching up and kissing his nose.

Tadashi laughs too, enjoying the feel of toddler's tiny lips on his nose-honestly, he doubts that teenage Hiro would ever do anything like this, and so he's trying to memorize exactly how everything feels.

"So, I was thinking," the older boy says a few minutes later after another snuggle session, "how would you like to go out and get some ice cream for dessert?"

"Ice cream?" Hiro exclaimed, bouncing in papa's lap. "Can I get gummy bears on mine?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees with a grin. "As many gummy bears as you want."

"Yay!" Hiro cheered, throwing his arms up. "Gummy bears!"

"Gummy bears, indeed," Tadashi agrees with a slight chuckle before adding, "But we need to finish our dinner first, and then we can have dessert, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro agreed, quickly devouring the slice of pizza he'd been holding before grabbing a second.

Tadashi can't help but feel pleased to see the toddler actually having an appetite-it's much better than when the little boy's only picking at his food and half starving himself. Knowing that his musuko is actually eating for once is enough to make the elder boy feel safe eating, and soon the two of them are finished with dinner.

Once the dishes are put away, Tadashi starts gathering up the things they'll need before heading out, and then can't help but laugh as he realizes that Hiro has pizza sauce all over his face. "You are the world's most adorable little mess right now, you know that?" he asks, using a warm wet rag to start cleaning the toddler up.

"But papa, messes can't be adorable!" Hiro exclaimed, laughing.

"They can be when you're involved in them!" Tadashi answers, kissing the little boy's nose.

Hiro giggled and said, "But you're even more adorable!"

Tadashi tries not to laugh at that. "How am I adorable?" he asks.

"You're the nicest daddy ever! And you look silly when you have noodles on your nose!"

"All right, if that makes me 'adorable', we'll go with it," Tadashi chuckles.

"It does!" Hiro declared, giggling.

"Well, all of this 'adorableness' aside, you ready to go get that ice cream?" Tadashi asks, ruffling the boy's hair good naturedly.

"Ice cream!" Hiro exclaimed, bouncing excitedly.

"All right then, let's go, little guy!" Tadashi says with a smile, heading over to open the door and motioning for his son to follow him.

"Yay! Thank you daddy!" the toddler cheers, hurrying after him.

"Absolutely, musuko," Tadashi replies, scooping the little boy up and, after locking the door, starting towards the street. He doesn't get too far, however, before a dilemma suddenly hits him. Hiro was only just finally doing better-did he really want to risk upsetting the boy again by taking him on the streetcar where something might happen? Probably not. Their regular ice cream parlor, however, was a bit too far for walking, especially since it was getting dark out. Hm...

His gaze wanders over to the red moped parked in the alley. Could he risk it? As a teenager, Hiro had no problem riding on the motor scooter. But would the toddler actually be able to hang on, though?

"Is something wrong, daddy?" Hiro asked, looking up at papa.

Tadashi shakes his head slightly, coming back to reality. Nope, he wasn't going to risk the little boy's safety on what his aunt had often referred to as a "rickety death trap" (which Bae certainly wasn't, but Tadashi could now understand her concerns.)

"Um... Hiro, I hate to do this to you, but I think we're going to have to take the streetcar," he says after realizing that there was no other good options. "Do you-Do you think you'll be okay with that?"

Hiro squirmed in his daddy's arms before nodding his head and tightly wrapping his arms around papa. "I'll be brave."

"Hiro, you are amazing!" Tadashi says with a relieved grin. Honestly, the boy never ceases to amaze him.

"Thanks, papa..." Hiro mumbled, snuggling up against him.

For a moment Tadashi allows himself to just melt into the snuggling. Then, forcing himself to keep on task, he tells the toddler, "All right, let's get going before it gets too dark out, huh?"

"Okay..." Hiro mumbled, clinging into papa as they made their way to the street cart stop. He could be brave. He was with papa, and papa would keep him safe.

The two Hamadas got onto the streetcar with little fuss and, the elder boy was majorly grateful, managed to get all the way to their stop without the younger even having a single mini panic episode. "I am so proud of you!" Tadashi tells his musuko as they get off, snuggling the little boy close. "You did such a great job! You're my little champ, huh?"

"Thanks, daddy..." Hiro mumbled, snuggling up against papa. "I tried to be really brave..."

"And you did a great job!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, cuddling him up close to his chest. "Now-how about we go get that ice cream, huh?"

"Yes, please," Hiro mumbled, snuggling up against papa. He made him feel safe, even if he was really scared.

The pair make their way to the ice cream parlor with minimal fuss. Inside it's not terribly crowded-a happy medium between jam packed and awkwardly empty. While they wait their turn in line, Tadashi surveys the many flavors to choose from. Honestly, as tempting as they all sound, he decides to stick with his standby, green tea pistachio. Knowing that Hiro never orders the same thing twice, however, he turns to the little boy with amused curiosity and asks, "So, what are you planning on having, little guy?"

The toddler eyes the different flavors with excitement. What did he want? There was chocolate, vanilla, cake batter, mint-so many choices!

"Hmmm... cake batter! With gummy bears!" he finally declared.

"Ooh, that sounds awesome!" Tadashi says with a slight grin. They move forward with the line, and soon the two boys have their ice cream and are happily seated at one of the outside tables, enjoying the sweet treat while watching the sun go down.

Hiro excitedly dug into his ice cream, loving every bite of the sugary treat. "Can we do this more often daddy?"

Tadashi feels his blood run slightly cold at that question, and he slowly puts his spoon down, suddenly having lost his appetite. He's not even sure how to answer that, and he can feel tears starting to prick his eyes as he remembers that as of tomorrow afternoon, all of this was going to come to an end. He knew that he had to do the right thing-but that didn't mean it wasn't going to rip his heart out and shred it into a million pieces. It was going to be even worse than Honey's rejection. It was going to be straight up _jigoku._ Still, not wanting to worry Hiro, he forces a smile onto his face and says softly, "Y-yeah, buddy. I-I'd like that."

"Are you okay daddy?" the little boy asked when he saw daddy looking sad.

"S-sure, I'm fine," Tadashi replies, lying through his teeth but trying to stay positive for his son's sake. He reaches over and gently strokes the toddler's cheek. "I just-I was just thinking about how much I love you and how much you mean to me."

Hiro frowned, worried that daddy was lying but not wanting to say so. He knew though that daddy would never say anything, even if he wasn't feeling good, so instead the toddler climbed into papa's lap and snuggled up against him.

Tadashi smiles and hugs his musuko closer. "You always know how to make me feel better, don't you?" he murmurs into the little boy's hair, gently stroking the raven locks.

"You always make me smile, so I wanna make you smile." Hiro replied, snuggling closer to papa.

"Hiro, you're the one thing that keeps me smiling, even on my really rough days," Tadashi responds, cradling the little boy close.

Hiro stared up at papa, eyes full of amazement. He sometimes couldn't believe how much papa loved him.

Tadashi smiles back, but with a slight pang in his heart he realizes that it's getting late and they need to get heading home. He grabs some napkins and starts wiping the toddler's face, wondering as he does so if this is the last time that he's going to get to do this. Better question-is everything that happens within the next 20 hours going to rip his heart out, and will he even be able to keep going after the boy changes back? He tries to push these thoughts out of his mind, but that doesn't mean that he isn't slightly worried about what's going to happen in the near future.

Hiro, meanwhile, was worried about papa. He looked so sad, and he didn't know how to make him happy again. The toddler noticed that papa had some ice cream on his face, so he grabbed a napkin and started awkwardly wiping his face.

Tadashi knows that his son's trying to be helpful, but somehow the adorable gesture sends his emotions over the edge and, before he can stop it, the tears start falling down his face. He wraps the little boy up into as tight a hug as he can manage, never wanting to let him go. "I love you... so, so much," he finally manages to get out, gently stroking the toddler's hair and feeling like his heart is going to break all over again.

"I love you too, daddy." Hiro mumbled, snuggling up against papa. "I don't like seeing you sad. How do I make you happy again?"

"Just-just be here with me," Tadashi answers, trying very hard to keep it together for the his son's sake. "A-and promise me something? Promise me that you'll never leave me..." He realizes that this was the same thing that the boy had been asking him all weekend. Now he knows why the toddler was never fully reassured by his own promises-promises were just words. And sometimes you weren't capable of keeping them, no matter how badly you wanted to.

"Okay..." Hiro promised, snuggling up against papa. He didn't know why papa was so sad suddenly, but he would do whatever it took to get him to be happy again.

Tadashi forces smile onto his face, trying not to lose it even more, when suddenly a shadow falls over the both of them. Figuring it was just some random passerby who had been worried by the overly emotional display and had come over to check on them, the older boy lifts his head to reassure them that everything was alright, only to let out a gasp as he caught sight of the familiar beehive of red hair.

"M-Mrs. Matthews!" he stammers.

"Tadashi Hamada? And...Hiro?!" The older lady looks down at the two with a mixture of concern and confusion. "I thought that might be you! But what the hee-haw-hay is goin' on here?"

"Daddy took me to get ice cream!" Hiro exclaimed, bouncing in daddy's lap. He wasn't sure who this lady was, but she was a friend of daddy's, so if daddy liked her, then he liked her. "How did you know my name?" the boy asks

"Daddy?" Mrs. Matthews raises an eyebrow and looks to the elder Hamada before taking a seat across from them at the table. "Okay, this had better have a pretty good story to go along with it!"

"Uh..." Tadashi glances nervously down at the little boy. Sure, they were almost at the end of Hiro's period as a toddler, so it wasn't such a major issue if he found out the truth. But that doesn't mean that he wants the little boy's fantasy to be shattered yet. He wants to be able to enjoy the last little bit of time he has with Hiro as his _musuko_.

Mrs. Matthews seems to pick up on Tadashi's distress because she frowns slightly and leans forward, remarking, "Lands sake, child, you're practically turnin' green! You feelin' all right?"

"Not-not exactly," Tadashi responds, knowing better than to lie to her. She could read him like an open book, no matter how hard he tried to hide his true emotions from her. "It's... just been a rough couple of days, that's all."

"I can imagine." Mrs. Matthews gives him a rueful smile, propping her head on her hands and obviously not missing the underlying message in the boy's words. "So, do you think things are going to be going back to normal soon?" she asks, just barely nodding towards Hiro. Tadashi smiles slightly at how good a job she's doing at disguising her true meaning-spending years surreptitiously asking kids about their wellbeing so as to keep others from overhearing anything that they really shouldn't had made her a bit of a master of the double entendre.

"Y-yeah," Tadashi agrees, nodding his head and trying not to let his voice crack too much with emotion. "Everything-everything should be back to how it was tomorrow."

"I see." Mrs. Matthew's expression softens and she gives the young man's hand a comforting squeeze. That was another thing that he loved about her-maybe she didn't always understand exactly what a person was going through, but she was more than willing to offer sympathy and support as she could. "Y'know, you don't look like yer in any condition to go anywhere on yer own right now-you two need a ride someplace?" she offers.

"That-that would be great," Tadashi replies with a slight smile.

"Well then, my car's parked right around the corner," Mrs. Matthews says, beaming and getting up from the table. "Let's go!" As the two boys start to follow her, though, she suddenly turns and asks, "Oh, but can I hold the little guy, just fer a minute? He is absolutely _darlin'_!"

"Sure," Tadashi agrees, hoping that Hiro wouldn't mind but knowing that he owed her at least that much. He gently hands the toddler over to the older lady, and her face instantly breaks into an enormous smile.

"Hey there, sugah," she coos, gently tweaking the little boy's nose.

"Hi..." Hiro mumbled. "How did you meet my daddy?" He didn't like being away from papa, but papa was right there with him so he that he was okay. Besides, this lady seemed nice, so he'd be nice and polite to make daddy proud!

"Well, you could say that we've been good friends since he was in high school," Mrs. Matthews explained with a slight wink, to the elder Hamada's great relief and gratitude going along with the whole charade as she hands the toddler back to him. "I was the secretary there, and he like to come and eat lunch with me sometimes."

"Oh..." Hiro replied, nodding his head. "How come daddy never brought you over? You seem like a nice lady."

Mrs. Matthews burst out laughing at that, even as Tadashi turns slightly red. "Oh, I didn't mean _that_ sort of friend, kiddo, although I appreciate the compliment," she responds with a wink, ruffling the toddler's hair. "I'm more like... a favorite aunt."

"Aunts still visit sometimes!" Hiro pointed out stoutly.

"True," Mrs. Matthews agrees, directing a smile in the elder boy's direction.

Oh, gosh, well, this was getting awkward in a hurry. "Um... D-did you want to come in for a bit when we get back to the house?" Tadashi asks weakly, not sure exactly how he was supposed to be reacting to all of this.

Hiro grinned up at the pretty lady and declared, "It would be a lot of fun!"

Mrs. Matthew's, seeing the slightly panicked look on the other boy's face (he had just remembered how huge of a mess the house was, plus he had sort of been hoping to have this last evening with Hiro to himself), chuckles slightly and ruffle's the toddler's hair. "Well... maybe tonight wouldn't be the best night, kiddo," she says with a warm smile. "I've got some... um, _things_ that I need to take care of. But, tell you what, maybe I can call your daddy later and see if we can set up another time to do it. That sound good?"

"Okay..." Hiro sighed, deflating slightly.

The other two share a look, both feeling horrible for letting the little boy down like that. Tadashi's about to make a case for maybe having Mrs. Matthew's actually come over, but then the secretary suddenly puts up one finger as if to say, "hold on a minute", looks down at her watch, and grins.

"It's not too late yet," she says, looking back up at the two boys. "There's this new Disney movie that's out in the theaters that I've been wantin' to watch, but I haven't been able to find myself any movie watchin' buddies to go with me. How'd you two like to come with me to see it with me tonight?"

"What movie?" Hiro asked, eyes lighting up with excitement.

"I think it's one of those sequels- _Toy Story 6_ , if I remember correctly?" Mrs. Matthews replies with a slight laugh. "I've honestly lost track of how many of those films that they've made."

"That sounds great," Tadashi says with a grin. He'd honestly been wanting to see that movie too, but just hadn't had the time yet with school and everything. Still, he hurries to ask, "But are you sure that you don't mind us tagging along? We wouldn't want to be a bother..."

"Lands sake, Tadashi, you wouldn't be a bother! If anythin', yer doin' me a favor," Mrs. Matthews responds, waving aside his concerns and winking at him. "Usually I take my sister's kiddos with me so I don't get funny looks when I go to the theater to watch Disney movies, but they're out of town right now and I was beginning to think that I'd have to wait until it came out on disk to actually watch it!"

"All right then, if you really don't mind..." Tadashi responds, feeling relieved.

"Absolutely," Mrs. Matthews answers with a firm nod, ending the discussion. Then she looks down at the little boy in her arms and grins. "What do you say, little fella, you ready to go watch a movie with your Auntie Mabel?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed excitedly. He was going to hang out with his daddy and new auntie! This was the best day ever!

" _Auntie Mable?_ " Tadashi whispers with slight amusement as Mrs. Matthews leads them over to her car.

"Just go with it, cowboy," Mrs. Matthews laughs, opening the passenger side door for them. "Least you can do when I'm treating you two to a film, right?"

"Fair enough," Tadashi agrees with a chuckle.

"Thank you, auntie!" Hiro exclaimed, grinning up at her. "What's your favorite Disney movie?" he asked as they got in. "Mine's Lilo and Stitch!"

"Hm... hard to pick my favorite," Mrs. Matthews replied with a cheerful laugh, going around to the other side of the car and getting into the driver's seat. "But I'd have to say that _Toy Story_ is pretty close to my heart-especially the second one, where they bring Jessie in. That gal's what you could call my 'home girl'."

Tadashi tries not to laugh at the secretary's attempted use of modern slang before speaking up, "I'm probably with Hiro- _Lilo and Stitch_ is definitely at the top of my list, although I have to admit that I do love pretty much anything PIXAR."

"I love Disney!" Hiro declared, grinning widely.

"That makes three of us, kiddo," Mrs. Matthews says with a wink as she drives out into the street. A few minutes later they're pulling up in front of the local movie theater.

"Thank you for taking us!" Hiro exclaimed when he saw the theater.

"Absolutely, sugah!" Mrs. Matthews replies with a wink as she parks the car and undoes her seatbelt. "Now, you two ready to go have an adventure?"

"Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, jumping out of the car. "We're going on an adventure with Buzz and Woody and Jessie and everyone else!"

"Absolutely, little guy!" Tadashi agrees, smiling as he watches Hiro taking off across the parking lot. "But hey, wait for us, okay?"

"Okay...sorry, papa," Hiro apologized, slowing down and waiting for them to catch up.

"It's okay, _musuko_ ," Tadashi responds, scooping the little boy up and hugging him close as soon as they'd caught up with him. "I just worry about you-maybe I do a little too much, but I just want to keep you safe."

"I feel safe with you, papa," Hiro assured, snuggling up against him as they entered the theater. Auntie bought the tickets for the three of them and they found some seats in about the middle of the theater. "I bet this will be the best one yet!" the little boy declares.

"Well, here's hoping," Tadashi agrees with a slight grin.

"Hush!" Mrs. Matthews shushes them, not sounding truly upset but her eyes fixed raptly on the screen. "The previews are starting!"

Hiro instantly turned to the screen, bouncing in his seat excitedly as previews for movies started playing. He couldn't wait for the movie to start! As the film began, though, the little boy realized that he wanted to cuddle with papa and so, awkwardly climbing over the arm rest, he settled into his daddy's lap and snuggled up against him.

Tadashi tries not to have a heart attack over the cuteness as his musuko nuzzles up against him. Mrs. Matthews, sitting next to him, takes notice of this and smiles, raising an amused eyebrow as she watches the two of them together. Not knowing how else to respond, the elder boy just shrugs and then motions with his head for her to turn her attention back to the film as he does likewise-well, as much as he can when he has a bundle of adorableness happily snuggling into his chest.

Hiro felt papa hugging him back and he let out a content sigh. This was much better.

"I love you, _musuko_ ," Tadashi whispers to the little boy as the opening credits play.

"I love you too, daddy..." Hiro mumbled, snuggling up against him as the movie started.

As it turns out, the movie is the best one to come out in the series thus far. Afterwards, Mrs. Matthew can't stop going on and on about it, to the point that the elder Hamada's slightly worried that she isn't be paying enough attention to the road and is going to get them seriously lost. Fortunately, however, apparently she is because about a good fifteen minutes later they're pulling up in front of the Lucky Cat Cafe.

"Here we are!" the secretary announces in a slightly sing-song voice, apparently proud of herself for having gotten the boys there safe and sound. "Everyone off for the Hamada residence!"

Hiro giggled and said, "This is our stop papa! Thanks for the ride, Miss Auntie Driver Ma'am!"

"Not a problem, sugah!" Mrs. Matthews replies with a slight wink. She reaches over and gives him a quick hug, and then does the same to Tadashi. "I'll probably be seein' both of you again real soon?" she says, a smile on her face but a meaningful look in her eyes as she looks up at the older boy.

"Y-yeah," the elder boy agrees with a slightly sad smile, the negative emotions that he'd been able to bury for the last couple of hours coming back to him full force at the reminder of just how little time he had left with his son.

"Hey, you gonna be okay?" the secretary asks, a concerned look crossing her features as she takes note of Tadashi's sudden shift in mood.

"Sure, I'll be fine," he responds, trying to act as cheerful as possible.

Mrs. Matthews doesn't seem fully convinced, but instead of pressing the issue she just nods and tells him, "Well, if y'all need me for anything-and I mean _anything-_ \- don't hesitate to call me, all right?"

"Thank you." Tadashi gives her a grateful look, and then, with a wave, starts up towards the house, his little son wrapped tightly in his arms.

Hiro snuggled up against papa as he carried them inside, letting out a small yawn. He was exhausted, so much so that he could barely keep his eyes open. But it had been a fantastic day, and he hoped he could have more fun days like this with papa.

Tadashi smiles down at the sleepy little boy in his arms, again having the fight back tears as he opens and unlocks the back door. He knows that his son needs to get to bed, but he also can clearly see that the poor little thing is desperately in need of a bath after all of the day's adventures. He carries his _musuko_ up the stairs to their room and then into the bathroom where he gets the warm water running. He undresses the toddler and, once the tub is full, he sets him down into it and starts gently scrubbing him with soap and a soft cloth.

Hiro sleepily looked up at papa as he bathed him, eyes drifting shut several times throughout the bath. After what felt like an eternity to the toddler, papa finally scooped him out and wrapped a towel around him and dried him off before slipping some pajama's on him. Once he was finished, the toddler sleepily raised his arms, silently asking papa to pick him up.

"Up we go, little guy," Tadashi says with a soft smile, scooping the little boy up into his arms and cradling him close to his chest as he starts to head back out into the bedroom. Maybe this is one of the last times that he's going to be able to do this, but he isn't going to let sadness ruin the beautifully adorable moment.

Hiro snuggled up against papa, feeling his eyes growing heavy. Maybe he and daddy could have another fun day like today tomorrow.

"Good night, _musuko_ ," Tadashi whispers as he climbs into bed, pulling the covers over the both of them and hugging the little boy close, again fighting the urge to lose it. But no-at least for now, he has to stay strong, for his musuko's sake if not for his own.


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning, Hiro groggily opened his eyes and looked over at papa, who was still sound asleep next to him. Not wanting to wake up just yet, the toddler snuggled up closer to papa and shut his eyes again.

Tadashi, after having silently cried himself to sleep the night before, wakes up a little while after his son does, feeling like he has a really, really bad cold. For a minute he can't remember why it feels like there's a grey cloud hovering over him, but then everything comes back to him and all he wants to do is just curl up into a little ball and just disappear from the world until 24 hours later and things were back to how everyone said they were "supposed" to be. Anything would be better than spending the next seven hours dreading the inevitable. He knew-or at least seriously hoped-that he was doing the right thing. But that didn't mean it wasn't going to hurt like heck. However, when he tries to make good on his "curling up into a little ball of oblivion" plan, he finds that he's being prevented from doing so by the toddler who's currently nuzzled up against his chest. "Good morning," he says softly, unable to keep from smiling when he looks down at the adorable little boy, even if it feels like his heart's currently being ripped out.

Hiro looked up at daddy and realized he looked really sad again. Why was daddy always so sad? He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. What if he was the reason daddy was sad? Maybe he could do something to make daddy less sad... The toddler's eyes lit up as he climbed out of bed and ordered, "Stay here daddy! I'll be back!"

"Hiro..." Tadashi starts to call out to the little boy, but unfortunately he doesn't have the energy to follow after him. So, instead, he just hopes and prays that his musuko will be okay even as depression keeps him pinned to the mattress.

Hiro didn't know how to make much, but he hoped daddy would enjoy not having to make any breakfast. The little boy pushed a chair over to the cabinet and used it to climb onto the counter so he could grab a bowl. Once he had it, he carefully climbed down and set the bowl on a tray. He then put two slices of toast into the toaster and ran over to grab daddy's favorite cereal. He filled the bowl with it before running over and grabbing the milk and jam, carefully pouring the milk over the cereal. Hearing the bread popping out of the toaster, he grabbed the toast and spread the jelly on it before carefully placing them on a plate and adding it to the tray. For a moment the toddler frowned at the breakfast, thinking it was missing something. Then, grinning, he grabbed a juice box and set it on the tray as well.

"Perfect!" he declared, picking up the food and carefully making his way up the stairs. Once he reached daddy's room, the little boy announced, "I made you breakfast! I hope you like it."

"Oh my gosh, Hiro, you made breakfast... for me?" Tadashi manages to force himself to an upright position and stares down at the tray. Hiro had actually done this just to make him feel better? With slightly trembling hands, he accepts the breakfast, only to put lay it aside in favor of smushing his son into a hug and starting to cry uncontrollably.

Hiro felt tears welling up in his eyes. He had only made daddy sadder. Why couldn't he make daddy happy again? "I'm sorry I made you sadder daddy…" he whispers. "I just wanted to make you happy..."

"No, Hiro, you didn't make me sad!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, hugging him closer and trying to form coherent sentences through the tears. "These-these are happy tears, bud! This is seriously one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me! You are the best _musuko_ ever, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise!"

"People don't do nice things for you? But... you're the nicest daddy in the universe!" Hiro exclaimed, nuzzling against papa

"Well..." Tadashi can't help but turn slightly red as he considers the little boy's question. "I mean, I guess that maybe people _would_ do nice things for me, but... let's just say that I've always had an easier time helping others than accepting help from others, if y'know what I mean."

Hiro didn't really understand, but he says determinedly, "Well... I'll do enough nice things to make up for everyone else, then!"

Tadashi can't help but smile down at the toddler when he says that. "How do you always know just the right thing to say?" he asks, reaching down and ruffling the little boy's hair.

"I don't know..." Hiro admitted. "I just love you, is all..."

Tadashi can't tell if that just made everything infinitely better or worse. "Hiro, I hope you know just how much I love you too..." he finally manages to get out, nuzzling his nose into the toddler's soft thatch of hair.

"Of course daddy!" Hiro assured. "Now, eat your breakfast!"

Tadashi honestly didn't feel much like eating anything, but at his son's urging, he does start nibbling on a piece of toast.

"Do you like it?" Hiro asked nervously. He hoped he got stuff daddy liked.

"It's the best toast I've ever had," Tadashi tells him, meaning every word of it.

"Yay!" Hiro exclaimed, throwing his arms around papa.

"You think you can help me eat some of this?" Tadashi asks once he and the toddler have gotten in a suitably long snuggle period.

"But I made it for you daddy!" Hiro exclaimed. "I can't take your food!"

"It'll make me happy if you'll share it with me," Tadashi responds, gently tucking some hair back behind the little boy's ear.

"Okay..." Hiro agreed, reluctantly taking the second slice of toast.

Tadashi smiles as he sees his son eating-it honestly made him feel better knowing that his _musuko_ was getting some food into his system for once, and he actually found that he did have at least a bit of an appetite.

"So what do you want to do today papa?" Hiro asked after he'd finished his toast.

"Honestly?" Tadashi answers. "Just... just being here with you is more than enough right now."

"Well, we can stay here all day if you want!"

"That actually sounds pretty nice," Tadashi admits with a slight smile.

"Do you want to build a pillow fort?" Hiro asked, eyes lighting up. "We could make the biggest pillow fort ever with lots of comfy pillows and stay inside it all day!"

Tadashi momentarily wonders if he even has the strength at the moment to build a pillow fort. But then he considers the possibility of getting to just snuggle with his musuko all day and he makes the mistake of looking into the little boy's adorable brown eyes and his mind is made up for him. "All right, sure, let's do this!" he agrees with as much enthusiasm as he can muster.

"Yay!" Hiro shouted running out of the room and gathering as many blankets and pillows as his tiny arms could carry. He then dumped the blankets in daddy's room and ran out to grab more.

Tadashi can't help but chuckle at the toddler's enthusiasm and he starts making efforts to at least _try_ to begin constructing some sort of semblance of a structure from the soft and plushy materials.

Once Hiro had collected every pillow and blanket he could find, he started helping daddy put the fort together. As daddy hung blankets, the little boy started throwing pillows into the fort.

"It's looking pretty good," Tadashi says with a smile a few minutes later when pretty much everything was in place. Maybe this wasn't the most epic fort the two of them had ever built together-there weren't any stuffed animal launching cannons or bottomless pits of old t shirts and socks-but to him, it was perfect.

"Only pretty good?" Hiro asked, pouting. "I think this is the best fort ever!"

"Yes, yes it is," Tadashi agrees with a chuckle. "Because we made it together. Now, c'mere you!" He reaches out and grabs the toddler, happily snuggling the little boy close.

Hiro giggled and started trying to tickle papa.

Tadashi knew that he could totally win any tickle fight with the toddler, but he decides to let it go, allowing Hiro to tickle him unhindered and just laughing like crazy _._

"I am the tickle monster!" Hiro declared, giggling like mad.

"Yes, yes you are!" Tadashi agrees, fully submitting himself to the adorable form of torture.

"Do you accept defeat?" Hiro asked, momentarily stopping.

"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, putting his arms up in surrender.

"Good!" Hiro laughed, stopping to kiss papa's cheek.

Tadashi enjoys the kiss for a moment and then, suddenly feeling mischievous, takes advantage of the toddler's proximity to start tickling the sensitive spot behind the boy's left ear.

"Daddy!" Hiro squealed, laughing and trying to squirm away from him.

"Payback time," Tadashi laughs, pulling the squealing toddler up close to his chest but keeping the actual tickling mercifully short. When he's done, he lets out a long, wistful sigh, resting his chin on the top of his musuko's head. "Man..." he whispers. "I wish things could always stay like this... That we never had to leave this fort-just forget the rest of the world and be happy like this forever."

"But we can!" Hiro exclaimed, snuggling up against papa. "We can be the kings of this castle! And never ever have to leave it! It will just be you and me, papa!"

"Y-yeah," Tadashi agrees, trying to smile for the little boy's sake even as his heart's dying on the inside. "Anything you say, kiddo." Let the toddler have his dream for as long as he can. There isn't much time left, and he isn't going to ruin the little bit that they have.

Hiro could tell daddy was getting sad again, and he had no idea why, so he tightly hugged papa as best he could, hoping that maybe he could hug the sadness away.

"Thank you, Hiro..." Tadashi whispers after laying there in silence for probably a good half an hour. "For being my _musuko_. It's seriously the best gift that you've ever given me."

"You're the best papa in the world..." Hiro mumbled, nuzzling against his daddy.

"I hope you remember that when you go back..." Tadashi says, so quietly that the toddler can't hear him. Not wanting to ruin their fragile little fantasy, though, he pulls the little boy underneath a blanket with him and allows himself to sort of float off into a dreamy state of semi-consciousness.

Hiro shut his eyes and snuggled up against papa, hoping this would make his daddy happy again.

Tadashi isn't sure how long they've lain there, just enjoying being in their father and son embrace, until hours later he finally checks the clock. His heart sinks down in his chest. 4:30 pm. It's almost time. "No... Please, no..." he whispers, tears filling his eyes as he hugs Hiro closer. "Please... not yet... I'm not ready to let go yet... I... I need him."

"Papa, what's wrong?" Hiro asked, starting to shake. "I-Is someone going away?"

"Not-not exactly, buddy," Tadashi answers, trying but failing to put an actual smile on his face. Without explanation, he gets up from the bed, and, still holding his musuko, heads over to the boys' combined closet. At least his brain's working enough to remind him that, based on the first transformation, he needs to get the toddler into teenage sized clothes before the boy changes back-or, maybe it's just his mind trying to find things to keep him occupied while he waits for the inevitable to happen. Picking a shirt and a pair of shorts at random, he carries the little boy back to the bed and starts dressing him in the larger garments, carefully folding and laying aside the smaller ones, knowing that he might need those for emotional support later.

"Papa...why am I wearing these?" Hiro asked, glancing at the very large clothes papa had put him in.

"Just... for reasons," Tadashi responds, hating to be vague but not wanting to scare the little boy. It would probably be better if he didn't know what was coming. Certainly it was a kinder thing to do than to have him completely freaked out for the last thirty-no, wait, make that twenty five-minutes that they still had together.

"Papa... what's going on?" Hiro asked, getting scared.

"Hiro..." Tadashi looks down at the little boy, feeling his heart breaking even further to see him so upset. Again he has the overwhelming desire to not do this-to just keep the boy as a toddler, leave everything behind, and just be happy together as father and son. But no. He forces away those thoughts. He can't do that to his _otouo_. He has to do the right thing, no matter how badly it's ripping his heart out. "H-hey, little guy?" Tadashi finally manages to get out, gently stroking the younger's hair and trying to find something to kill the last twenty minutes with. "Did I-did I ever tell you that I actually had a brother?"

"No..." Hiro mumbled, looking up at papa in confusion. "What was he like?"

"Well... let's see." Tadashi leans his head back picturing the teenage version of the boy in his lap. "He was smart-I mean, extremely smart. A genius, really. And he loved to invent things-he could make just about anything he put his mind to. And he was funny-he loved playing pranks on me, and even if he got on my nerves sometimes, he was the best _otouto_ in the whole world. I-I knew that he'd do anything for me... Just like I'd do anything for him."

"He sounds like a nice brother!" Hiro exclaimed. "How come I've never met him?"

"Because... because something happened to him..." Tadashi responds with a sad smile, looking down at the little boy. "Something that took him away from me. And... and I almost did something which would have caused him to never be able to come back... Because I was afraid of losing you."

"What do you mean, daddy?" Hiro asked. "What happened to him?"

"There... there was an accident," Tadashi answers, grappling for an explanation. Fifteen minutes left. He just had to keep going for fifteen minutes. "One of our inventions went wrong... The beam hit him instead of the cat and it... well, it changed him."

"How did it change him?" Hiro asked curiously.

"It... It sort of turned him into a different person," Tadashi answers after a taking a moment to carefully think over his answer. "Or, at least, it showed a side of him that I hadn't seen in a long, long time. And I thought that I liked him better that way. But then I came to realize that I didn't just want one part of him. What I wanted-what I really needed-was all of him."

"So...what happened to him?" Hiro asked. "Did you get him back?"

Tadashi has to look away for a moment to hide the tears in his eyes. He happens to glance at the clock-ten minutes left. "I think..." he finally says in a shaky voice, looking back at his musuko and gently stroking the little boy's hair. "I think that we're about to find out."

"What do you mean, daddy? Why are you crying?"

"Hiro..." Tadashi tries form a coherent answer, but he just ends up breaking down and he has to hug the toddler close to his chest as silent sobs wrack his body. He rocks the little boy back and forth for a few minutes, unable to speak. Finally he manages to pull himself together, at least for a moment, and he loosens his grip on his musuko enough so that he can look down into the toddler's concerned little face. "Hiro..." he says softly, stroking the boy's hair."We're going to find out because he's _you_."

"W-what do you mean, daddy?" Hiro asked, looking up at papa in confusion. Papa was really sad and saying things that didn't make sense. What was wrong with daddy?

"Hiro, you _are_ my brother," Tadashi replies gently, feeling a sob trying to force its way out. "And you're going to be going back to normal in about five minutes here." He squeezes the toddler as close as he can. "As much as I love you as a teenager, I am going to miss you being my _musuko_ so, _so_ much. Thank you for letting me do this... For letting me be your _otousan_ , at least for a little bit. It's been the best three days of my life, and I'll never forget them."

"No daddy, I'm your son! Do you not want me to be your son?" Hiro asked, tears filling his eyes.

"More than anything," Tadashi replies, letting his own tears fall unchecked. "If I could, I'd keep you like this forever. But that wouldn't be right-it wouldn't be fair to you. I can't take away the last ten years of your life and expect you to be all right with it!"

Hiro couldn't stop the tears from flowing, so he just buried his face into papa's chest and started crying. He didn't know what was going on and he didn't like it at all.

"I love you, Hiro," Tadashi manages to get out, snuggling the little boy close for one last time. "Don't ever forget that."

Hiro shook his head, shaking uncontrollably. "I don't understand papa..."

"Hiro... I'm sorry..." Tadashi whispers, also shaking. "Please... Can I hear you say you love me one last time?"

"I-I love y-y-you..." Hiro stammered uncertainly. What was going to happen to him?

"I love you t-too, H-Hiro..." Tadashi manages to get out, before a blinding light forces him to close his eyes.

Hiro was confused, his brain was fuzzy and he couldn't quite figure out why he felt like he shouldn't be sitting in his room with his brother tightly clutching him. And for some reason he was crying. Hiro looked blearily up at him and mumbled, "Dad... what's going on...?" Wait, why had he said dad?

"H-Hiro?" Tadashi looks down at the teenager, feeling his heart lift for one moment. Had the boy actually just called him "dad"? Maybe there was still hope! He quickly takes a swipe at his own tears before forcing a smile onto his face and asking tentatively, "H-how are you feeling? A-are you doing okay?"

"Y-ye,a Dashi..." Hiro mumbled. "But, where are we? What happened? Everything's kind of fuzzy..." He tried to think of the last thing he remembered, but all he could recall was the pair doing something in the garage.

Tadashi instantly feels his hopes dissipate. The boy had said "Dashi" this time. And apparently his memories of what had happened were also not intact. "You-you got hit by a beam from the machine that was supposed to turn Mochi into a kitten," the older boy finally manages to get out. "You've been stuck as a toddler for three days. Do you-do you remember any of that?"

 _Please remember, please remember_ , he silently pleads.

Hiro shut his eyes and tried to remember something—anything-from the past three days. A tickle fight, cuddling, a trip somewhere, everything seemed to blur together. "I...sort of? I remember...I think I remember a zoo? We...I feel like we did a lot and..." Hiro froze when he felt an icy dread wash over him. Nearly getting taken from Tadashi forever by the robber. He involuntarily let out a shutter and wrapped his arms around himself.

"Hey, hey, it's okay!" Tadashi says, feeling a stab of fear as he sees his brother shaking. He involuntarily hugs the younger boy closer and asks, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I-I-I don't k-know..." Hiro stammered, trying to control his shaking. He was filled with an irrational fear that someone would come and take his brother from him. "Please don't go..." he weakly whispered. He didn't feel safe, he was sure someone would come in any moment and hurt his brother, or worse.

"Hiro, I'm right here! I'm not leaving you!" Tadashi cries, hugging his otouto even tighter and desperately stroking the boy's hair to try to calm him down. No! Changing his brother back was supposed to fix this!

Hiro wrapped his arms around his niisan and buried his face in his chest, instantly feeling a little better. Very quickly his shaking slowed and completely stopped, and he weakly slumped against his brother, holding onto him as tightly as his physically exhausted body would allow. "What's wrong with me...?"

"It's okay," Tadashi answers, gently beginning to rock the younger boy back and forth. "You're going to be okay now. I've got you. Pa-Dashi's got you." He forces himself to change the name at last second. He's not sure how much his brother remembers, but the last thing he wants to do is scare the teen even more by bringing up the _niisan/otousan_ thing right now.

Hiro felt tears continue to stream down his face, he felt empty and drained. He felt so cold, and he didn't know why. Was it some strange side effect of the ray? He wasn't sure, all he knew was that he _needed_ his niisan to stay with him. He wasn't sure if he could handle being alone right now.

"Sh, sh, it's alright," Tadashi reassures the boy, trying to do everything he could think of to comfort him. Almost at his wits end, he finally remembers something his father had sometimes done for him when he'd been little and scared by a storm. It was a long shot, but he'd try almost anything at this point. Continuing to stroke his otouto's hair, he begins to sing softly, " _Nenneko shasshari mase, Neta ko no naku ko no..._ "

Hiro curled up against his brother, and focused on his singing. He let his eyes drift shut, feeling warmth slowly spreading back into his limbs. He didn't understand most of the words his brother said, but the song was so soothing he felt his tense muscles start to relax- it almost felt like he was floating.

"There we go," Tadashi coos softly as he finishes the song, seeing his sibling relaxing. "That's my good little guy."

"I'm sorry..." Hiro mumbled, not opening his eyes. "I love you..."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Tadashi replies, a warm smile crossing his face. "And I love you too, _otouto_."

 _Otouto._ In everything that had happened, he'd almost forgotten how much he loved that word. Honestly, looking down at the teenager in his arms, how different was this from what he'd been doing only minutes before when Hiro had still been a toddler? Maybe everything would be okay after all...

As he thinks this, he's suddenly startled by the sound of a phone going off. He starts to jump up to answer it, but just in time he's reminded that Hiro's still in his lap. Not knowing what else to do, he scoops the teen up in his arms and carries him with him as he hunts for the phone. Finally he manages to find the cell inside of his bag and he quickly answers it. "H-hello?" he says, trying to balance the boy in his arms while also holding the phone.

"Tadashi? Is that you?" he hears a voice on the other end answer.

"A-Aunt Cass!" Tadashi cries, his eyes going wide.

"Well, 'hello' to you too!" his aunt replies with a laugh.

"O-oh, s-sorry," Tadashi replies. "Um, hey! How-how's everything going?"

"Great!" Aunt Cass answers cheerfully. "I'm actually on my way home right now! I'll probably be there in about twenty minutes."

"T-twenty minutes?" Tadashi repeats weakly, feeling his heart sinking.

"Yeah! I can't wait to see you guys!" his aunt answers cheerfully, completely oblivious to her nephew's panic. "See you in a few, okay?"

"Y-yeah, s-see you then," Tadashi agrees. As soon as Aunt Cass hangs up, he looks down at his brother and cries, "Oh my gosh, Hiro, Aunt Cass is going to be here in twenty minutes, and we still have to clean up the whole house!"

Hiro's brain was still feeling sluggish, but he nodded his head and awkwardly wiggled out of his brothers arm and started numbly cleaning whatever he found. Something about not being right next to his niisan set him on edge, though, and he found himself glancing over at his brother to make sure he was okay. The teen tiredly shook his head, trying to focus on what he was doing, but it felt like he was crawling through deep sludge though.

Tadashi, for his part was freaking out, trying to clean absolutely anything and everything that was even vaguely messy. He lets his slightly ocd nature take over and he manages to take care of the majority of the messes in the house. As soon as he's done downstairs, though, it occurs to him that he needs to check on Hiro and he hurries back up the stairs to find the teen. He discovers the poor kid half-asleep bent over the bathroom counter. Obviously he'd been trying to help, but he was so knocked out that he hadn't been able to do much. Smiling, the elder sibling scoops the boy up into his arms and carries him back out into the main bedroom. At first, he starts towards his brother's bed, but then, thinking better of it, he heads over to his own part of the room and lays him down on the bed there. Gently, he starts tucking blankets in around the boy, wanting him to feel safe and secure. "Love you, _musuko_ ," he whispers, risking the word as he softly caresses the little face.

Hiro wasn't sure what he was doing anymore. All he knew for sure was that somehow he was moving, but he wasn't quite sure how. He was pretty sure he wasn't walking... That's when he registered the warm fabric that was pressed against his face. Tadashi must be carrying him-that made sense. Soon Hiro felt his niisan setting him down on a bed and sheets being tucked around him. It took a minute for him to register that he was being set in his brother's bed. He wasn't sure why his elder sibling was doing this, but he wasn't complaining. After a few minutes of silence, though, he remembered his aunt was coming him and that she would not be happy if he didn't greet her when she got home. But he was so comfortable and tired… Why was he so tired? As much as he wanted to stay here in the warmth, he needed to get up. Slowly he dragged himself out of bed and stumbled down the stairs to the front door.

Tadashi, who had been waiting in the front entryway for his aunt to arrive, is somewhat startled to see his otouto blearily coming down the stairs. "Whoa, hey, what are you doing?" he asks, feeling greatly concerned as he hurries over to stabilize his little brother as he almost stumbles on the last step. "You shouldn't be up right now! After everything you just went through, you should be in bed, resting!"

"Aunt Cass 'll be upset if I'm not here..." Hiro mumbled, swaying slightly.

"I think she'll be even more upset if she finds you passed out on the floor," Tadashi counters gently. He reaches down and scoops the boy up into his arms, starting up the stairs. "C'mon, back to bed with you," he says in a tone that's kind but that also says he isn't going to take any arguments. "Aunt Cass will be able to figure out where we are when she gets in."

"I'm fine..." Hiro tiredly mumbled, head falling against his brothers shoulder. Aunt Cass would not be happy if they were in their room sleeping when she got home. "Don't need rest..." His brother was so comfy, though...

"Sure you don't," Tadashi replies with a bemused smile as his otouto nuzzles into his shoulder. Once back up in the bedroom, Tadashi again decides to bring the boy back over to his own bed-partly because he knew that he'd have an easier time keeping him there since there was a sliding partition which could keep the younger boy held in if necessary, and partly because he'd honestly just gotten used to Hiro sleeping with him over the past few days and he wasn't fully ready to let that go yet. He lays his _otouto_ down onto the mattress and smiles as the boy curls up around his arm. A moment later, though, when he tries to leave he realizes a slight problem. "Um, bro? I'm going to need my arm back..." he says, trying to gently pry the teen off of him, but to no avail.

"Noooo..." the younger boy groaned, clinging onto his brother's arm. Nope, his brother wasn't going anywhere. If he was being forced to stay in his room, then his niisan would be stuck with him.

Tadashi rolls his eyes but can't help but smile lovingly down at the younger boy. "All right then, scootch over," he says, nudging his sibling over to the other side of the bed and getting in next to him.

Hiro grumbled but complied, grateful he wasn't going to lose his pillow.

"There's my good little guy," Tadashi says softly, stroking the younger boy's hair.

"Not little..." Hiro mumbled, curling up against his niisan. "Stay pillow..."

"Okay," Tadashi agrees with a slight chuckle, enjoying the feeling of his little brother cuddling up against him. "I'll stay right here with you for as long as you need."

He's enjoying the safe feeling so much that's he's honestly a little freaked out when he suddenly hears a voice saying from the doorway, "How did I figure I'd find you guys up here?"

"Aunt Cass!" he cries happily once he recognizes the source, grinning as he sees the older woman smiling at them from the top of the stairs. He tries to sit up to greet her, but his brother's keeping him weighted down.

Hiro hears his Aunt and weakly opened his eyes and slowly sat up, tiredly waving and mumbled, "Hi..." He should say more, but he just has no energy.

"Goodness sakes, Tadashi, what did you do to him?" Aunt Cass asks, bursting out laughing. "Usually this kiddo would be bouncing off the walls! Tell me you didn't slip him some benadryl in his dinner because he was being too hyper?"

"What? No!" Tadashi cries defensively. "I'd never do that!"

"Just checking," Aunt Cass returns with a teasing grin. "Well, I was going to tell you two all about my trip, but it looks like you're a little... tied up at the moment. Maybe this would better wait 'til morning?"

"Sounds good," Tadashi agrees, feeling slightly relieved even as Hiro slumps against his shoulder, obviously going back to sleep.

"All right then." Aunt Cass comes over and gives them both a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in the morning-and you'd better be bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to listen to all of my stories after going to be so early tonight." She waggles a warning finger at them as she reaches the door, but Tadashi can tell that she's joking again (or, at least, he hopes that she's joking.)

"Yes, ma'am," he agrees with a warm grin. "Good night, Aunt Cass. It's good to have you home!"


	22. Chapter 22

Tadashi lets out a relieved sigh, looking down at the little boy with a warm smile. Hiro was happy and safe now, and that was the important thing. Now that Hiro was asleep, though, Tadashi realizes that he has some loose ends to tie up with his friends from the lab.

"Oh man..." he thinks, facepalming. He'd really, really screwed up, freaking out on them like that. How could he really expect them to even want to talk to him, let alone forgive him after everything he'd said? Still, he couldn't leave things like they were. He was going to have to see them again tomorrow, and he'd really rather make his peace now instead of having to do it awkwardly in person. He picks up his phone, debating who to call first. As much as he dreads talking to Honey Lemon, he knows that GoGo was likely to be even madder at him than the chemistry inclined blond was, so he decides to try her. He carefully dials in the number, hoping against hope that she'll actually pick up (even as a part of him sort of wishes that she won't.)

Honey is sitting alone in her apartment doing a bit of work for school. She didn't really NEED to do it at the moment, but it was something to keep her mind off of Tadashi. What he said earlier that day had really hurt her. She knew he just wanted to protect Hiro but ... Leaving? For good? She couldn't fathom it. To be honest, she would miss her friend too much. She puts her face on her desk.

"Why do you put yourself through these things Aiko?" she asks herself. She couldn't even lie anymore-ever since that day that Tadashi had admitted his feelings for her, she had been thinking it over, and she had slowly been developing a crush on him ever since then. Soon, though, her thoughts are interrupted by her phone ringing. She checks the caller ID and sees that, of all people, it's her robotic-loving friend calling.

"Well speak of the ... person," she mumbles. There was no way that she could refer to her friend by the darker version of the phrase, no matter how much he'd hurt her. She quickly taps the answer button on the screen and holds the phone to her ear, desperate for any news—anything that would tell her what his real plans were right now. "Tadashi?" she says, trying to sound as chipper as possible.

"H-hey, Aiko?" the young man responds softly, using her actual name for once-something he only did when he was trying to be serious. For a moment he flounders for words, and then suddenly all of the hard emotions that he'd been trying to hold in all evening come tumbling out, and he barely manages to hold back tears as he says shakily, "Um... H-Hiro... H-he went back. T-to being a teenager, I mean. You guys were right... I had to do the right thing by him... You were right all along... And I'm so sorry for freaking out on you earlier, you totally didn't deserve that, you were just trying to help, it's just..." He tries to get out a better apology but then his voice cracks unexpectedly and suddenly he's a sobbing mess at his desk. This isn't right-he's supposed to be trying to make things right with Aiko, not be saddling her with his own problems! But the ache of something missing in his heart is overriding everything else at the moment.

Honey is taken aback by the emotions that her friend was spilling before her. She almost completely forgets her own troubles for the moment as she begins trying to calm the robotics student. "Woah, woah, woah, T-Tadashi it's alright!" she reassures him, wiping a tear from her eye. "GoGo and I are both fine. We understand that you were put under a lot of pressure at that moment. You did scare us a little, but we knew you just wanted what you thought was the best for Hiro!"

"I'm sorry," Tadashi finally manages to get out, hating that he'd just gotten so emotional. "I was supposed to be apologizing to you, and instead I just started going on about all of my own problems..."

Honey sighs. "Tadashi it's really fine. Sometimes love can cause you to do some crazy things." She rests her head on her hand while still holding the phone to her ear.

"Y-yeah," Tadashi agrees, feeling a slight twinge at that reference to their awkward encounter a few days ago.

"So ... How did you get him back to normal?" Honey asks, trying to avoid an awkward silence.

"Pretty much we just had to wait for the effects to wear off," Tadashi responds, trying to smile even as he remembers the emotional scene.

"So ... What made you change your mind?" Honey presses, trying not to overstep her bounds but also needing to sate her curiosity. "I mean, I know that me and GoGo talked to you about it, but you seemed pretty set on what you were doing ..."

"Well, I ran into a friend on the way out of the lab, and he drove me and Hiro home," Tadashi explains. "He's got two younger siblings himself, and he... Well, he helped me realized that, if I did this, I'd be getting Hiro as my _musuko_ , but I'd be losing him as my _otouto_. And there's no way in hey that I'd ever want to lose my little brother."

"My gosh, Tadashi, that's really sweet," Honey Lemon sighs before thinking to asks, "Who was your friend?"

"Just someone me and Hiro met at a convention this weekend," Tadashi answers, not sure whether to smile at the memory or not. "Let's just say... he sort of helped prevent another guy take advantage of me while I was genderswapped."

Honey lets out an audible gasp. "Tadashi, what were you doing at a convention? And why was some guy trying take advantage of you?"

"I-I'd rather not talk about that last part," Tadashi admits, feeling his face turn slightly red even as his chest seems to constrict at the memory of just how powerless he'd felt for those few minutes when he'd been unable to get away from the pervert's grasp. "But, um, we were at the convention trying to find Fred to see if he had any ideas of how to get the two of us turned back... Which, as you may remember, he did." He winces as he remembers how the fanboy's "solution" had ended up panning out.

"Oh, yeah ... That was a thing that happened, wasn't it?" Honey chuckles nervously. She still feels EXTREMELY awful about that and now she feels even worse considering she just had admitted to herself that she, in fact, did actually have feelings for her nerdy and adorable friend.

"Yeah, yeah it did..." Tadashi agrees, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "And... I guess now is as good a time as any to apologize for that too? I mean, I was putting way too much pressure on you, sort of springing all of that on you at once."

Honey was definitely glad she was talking with Tadashi over the phone instead of face to face because she could feel her face growing hotter by the second. "Oh nononononono. Tadashi, it's fine. It was for the best ... for both of us, I believe. I mean, it changed us back and saved us from being the opposite gender for the rest of our lives so ...so that's good." She cringes at how awkward she knows she must be sounding.

"R-Right," Tadashi agrees, trying to sound more cheerful about it than he felt. "So, u-um... I-I'll see you at the lab tomorrow?"

"Oh, definitely," Honey answers in the cheeriest voice she can muster.

"All right. I'll see you then," Tadashi tells her, his voice, in spite of itself, taking on the note of softness that it always had around her. Then, without even thinking about it, right before he hangs up, he adds in the traditional ending he uses with Hiro or Aunt Cass: "Love you." It's a full thirty seconds after he'd hit the red button to realize what he'd done, and then his face suddenly feels like it's on fire. No! NO! NONONONONONO! He had not just said that! Oh gosh... He puts his head in his hands, wondering if he should call her back and apologize. But no, that would probably only end up making things worse. Ugh, why did he have to be such a dork?

"Um ... Oh? " Honey can feel her face burning. "Tadashi? Hello?" She glances at her phones screen to see that he had already hung up. After a second of getting her nerves together she manages to say under her breath "Aw, that nerd." She giggles a bit before putting her phone back in her purse, glad that she definitely didn't have to worry about losing her friendship with Tadashi.

 _All right, well, technically that could have gone a lot worse…_ Tadashi thinks begrudgingly to himself. Deciding to not obsess over his earlier awkwardness and just be glad that he'd made his amends with Honey Lemon, the young man pulls up a blank text and starts typing.

 _Hey GoGo-u there?_

He pushes "send", hoping that he'll actually get a reply-he doesn't know just how mad the biker girl is at him, or even if she'll be willing to forgive him at all, but he at least has to try.

Gogo pauses in her meticulous cleaning of her bike as her phone suddenly vibrates in her back pocket. Raising an eyebrow, she sets aside the cleaning cloth and dries her hands on her pants before pulling out the phone, more than a little surprised by the ID showing up on her screen. A messy mix of a dozen different emotions rushes through her before settling on concern, at which point she begins typing back right away. _Yep. What's up?_

Tadashi tenses slightly. She was answering. He didn't know whether to be happy about that or not based on her rather neutral response. Unsure of what to say next, he finally decides to just go with a straight out apology. _I'm sorry for yesterday. I...was being an idiot, and I said a lot of things I shouldn't have. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?_

She snorts and rolls her eyes before replying: _Dashi, have you been stressing over that?_

 _Well... Yeah,_ he types back _. I mean, you're one of my best friends. I don't want to mess that up._

GoGo can't help but smile at that, a giggle threatening to make its presence known.

 _Do me a favor? Reread what you said there. You're one of my_ best friends. _Why the heck would I hold a grudge over some dumb things you said?_

 _But... but I thought you'd be mad at me..._ Tadashi types back, utterly blindsided by the fact that she seemed so okay with this.

She chuckles before replying: _If it makes you feel any better, I was definitely pretty upset at the time. But I'm over it now, you wanted to protect your brother. And I guess I could have been a bit more tactful in my approach._

 _I guess we both could have_ , Tadashi admits with a wry smile. _So, are we cool?_

She smiles _. Definitely_

Tadashi grins in relief. _Awesome. I'll see you at the lab tomorrow?_

 _Yeah, see you then._

Tadashi signs off and, at the same time, lets out an enormous sigh. That conversation had actually gone much better than he ever could have hoped for. Feeling extremely relieved, the young man flops back into bed next to his brother. Fortunately, the boy was still sleeping peacefully, and the elder sibling finally allows himself to relax. As much as he'd told himself that he wasn't that tired, after first the extremely emotional experience of losing toddler Hiro and then having those two potentially strenuous conversations with his friends, he is completely spent. Feeling exhaustion washing over him, he wraps his arms around the younger boy and curls up next to him. "Good night, Hiro," he whispers before finally drifting off into dream world as well.

0o0

 _Tadahi awoke with a slight start as he finds morning light streaming into his eyes. It felt like he'd just gone to bed, how could it be time to get up already? He yawns sleepily, smiling as he becomes aware of the warm form pressed up against his own. "Good morning, Hiro," he starts to say, looking down to smile at his little brother, only to feel his heart skip a beat. What the hey?_

 _"H-Hiro? Y-you're a toddler again!" he gasps weakly._

 _"What do you mean again daddy?" Hiro, who had also just woken up, asked, giggling. "I've always been a toddler!"_

 _"Oh gosh..." Tadashi's head spins as he tries to puzzle out what's happening. Had the ray had longer-lasting effects than they'd anticipated? Had his brother somehow reverted during the night? Had he just dreamed Hiro's getting turned back and he was going to have to go through the whole heartbreak of letting the little boy go all over again?!_

 _But then the dream idea triggers off something in his mind. Wait a minute... He looks around the room, taking stock of his surroundings. This wasn't his and Hiro's room! There was only one bed in the room. One dresser. Toddler items sat on shelves and were strewn across the floor._

 _"I-I'm back in the dream!" Tadashi finally realizes, his mind reeling. "That dream that Hiro and I shared before... I'm back in it!" But how? And why? There were so many questions that he had that needed answers._

 _"This isn't a dream, daddy!" Hiro giggled, snuggling up against him._

 _For a moment Tadashi wonders if maybe he had gotten his realities flipped. But no-this time, he could tell that he was in a dream. This was just a fantasy-a really good one, but still a fantasy. For a moment he feels a slight let down. He hadn't really gotten Hiro back as his son-at least not really. But then his eyes go wide as another thought hits him. Wait a minute-this wasn't just his dream. This was also his brother's dream. And, even though he usually tried to stick to the more practical sides of the medical field, from his studies in psychology he knew about the theories that said dreams were places where suppressed desires and ideas often came through. So was it possible-even as a teenager, did his otouto somewhat still see him as his dad?_

 _"Can you say that again, buddy?" Tadashi asks hesitantly, wanting to ensure that he'd heard the little boy correctly._

 _"It's not a dream..." Hiro awkwardly repeated. "Daddy, why are you acting so silly?"_

 _Tadashi tries not to squeal with excitement as he picks the little boy up and hugs him close. "Forget me being silly," the older boy says happily after a minute. "That's not important. What's important is that the two of us are together, and I am never, ever going to lose you!"_

 _"It's okay daddy, I like silly!" Hiro declared, laughing. "We'll be together forever right?"_

 _"Absolutely, musuko," Tadashi agrees and then, wanting to cover everything, he adds, "otouto."_

 _"Otouto?" Hiro asked, looking up at papa curiously. "What does that mean?"_

 _"It means 'little brother'," Tadashi explains with a gentle smile, stroking Hiro's soft raven locks. "Is... is that okay with you? That I sort of see you as both? I mean, you'll always be my musuko, but I sort of want you as my brother too."_

 _"Okay..." Hiro mumbled. Then, looking up at papa, he asked, "We'll still be together, right?"_

 _"Hiro, that's the best part about this!" Tadashi tells him with a smile. "We can be pretty much whoever we want to be together-whether as a father and son, or as brothers-and we're able to be there for each other no matter what the situation calls for! You and me-we're always going to have each other's backs and love each other and no one and nothing is ever going to be able to change that!"_

 _"I like that, papa!" Hiro exclaimed, wrapping his arms around him. "I love you!"_

 _"I love you too, Hiro," Tadashi answers, happily hugging the little boy back. He's about to say something else when suddenly he becomes aware of a distant beeping sound, and then..._

0o0

Tadashi wakes up for the second time blinking in the early morning light coming in through the window. "Man, that was a short dream," he mumbles to himself, reaching over to shut off the alarm.

Hiro groaned and snuggled up against the warm body lying next to him, refusing to wake up just yet.

"Good morning," Tadashi says softly, smiling as he becomes aware of the smaller form pressing into him. If this wasn't de ja vu, he didn't know what was. Still, feeling rather affection, he leans down and gently kisses the teen on the top of his head. "You sleep well?" he asks.

Hiro grumbled but didn't reply, not ready to get up just yet.

"Aw, who's my adorable little _otouto_?" Tadashi coos, partially just trying to get on his brother's nerves enough to wake him up, partially because the younger boy was just being seriously cute at the moment. Then, taking a slight risk, he buries his face into Hiro's hair and whispers, " _Musuko_."

"I'm not adorable..." the other teen protested, cracking an eye open to glare at his brother. "'M tryin' to sleep..."

"Well, you also need to start getting ready for school!" Tadashi returns, unable to keep a slight grin off of his face. Whether he was Hiro's niisan or otousan, he was going to take his duties seriously, and that started with making sure that his otouto/musuko got his education. "You've already a day this week," he continues, "I'm not letting you miss another one this close to graduation. Now, are you getting up or am I going to have to get you up myself?"

"I'm not moving..." Hiro grumbled pulling a pillow over his face.

"All right then, you asked for it!" Standing up, Tadashi grabs the younger boy by his ankles, slings him over his shoulders, and starts bouncing up and down to wake him up.

"Tadashi!" Hiro exclaimed, startled awake. "Why would you do this?!"

"It got you up, didn't it?" Tadashi replies with a warm laugh. Then, knowing that his sibling is fully awake now, he pulls the teen back up and into his arms where he lovingly cradles him, happily nuzzling his head into the younger boy's neck.

"Ugggg..." Hiro groaned, going limp in his brother's arms. "How are you so perky in the morning?"

"Because I'm with the person I love the most in the whole world," Tadashi returns, enthusiastically kissing his otouto on the cheek.

Hiro rolled his eyes, fighting a grin from spreading across his face. His brother was a total dork, but he was always able to make him grin like an idiot.

"Now, does my beloved want a ride to school?" Tadashi asks teasingly, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

"Beloved?" Hiro asked eyeing his brother. "Are we siblings, or are you trying to imply something?"

"Ew, no, gross!" Tadashi replies, making a playfully disgusted face. He puts the boy down and gives him a playful swat. "Now go get ready, or else I'll reconsider my offer!"

Hiro stuck his tongue out and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind himself.

Tadashi can't help but smile as he chuckles slightly and heads over to his closet to find clothes for the day. It was official-he would always love Hiro, and Hiro would always love him, no matter what sort of relationship that they had. They would always fight to keep that love alive, no matter who or what tried to get in the way. Not genderbends, not depression, not bot fighting, not even age swapping could defeat them. That was the sort of love they had-and it was the very best kind that there was.

~End

0o0

Tadashi: Wow-can you believe that this story is finally over? It's been a long, crazy ride, but we hope that you enjoyed it!

Hiro: Don't go thinking you've seen the last of us, though! We have TONS more adventures to share with you-there's never a dull moment when you're a Hamada brother!

Tadashi: True that! So yeah, keep an eye out, we'll probably be posting another of our adventures in the next couple weeks! Again, thanks for staying with us until the end, and we can't wait to see you next time!

Hiro: And don't forget the Hamada bro's number one rule- "Don't just reach for the stars-reach for the flying cats!" :)


	23. Correction and Bonus!

((Okay, hey guys! So, um, I was looking back over the story and realized something-I kind of accidentally left out the actual chapter 12, and accidentally posted chapter 13 twice. Whoops! ^^; Anyways, yeah, so I am totally fixing that right now, but I'm also going to post the text for Chapter 12 here so that you guys can enjoy it! I'll warn you in advance, it's a bit... random and slightly trippy, but hey, it's a dream sequence, so please be kind, it makes a lot more sense in context, so you my want to re-read ch 11 and ch 13 to make sure that you fully understand what's going on! Thanks so much for understanding, and I hope you enjoy the sort-of accidental bonus chapter of _Deviant Week_ , "Taken Over"! :D See you soon in the next Hamada Bro's adventure, _Candy Game Night!_ ))

Tadashi awoke a little while later with the uncomfortable feeling that something wasn't quite right. He didn't exactly know what, but the idea kept gnawing at him, not allowing him to fall back asleep until he looked down and realized the assumed cause-somehow, while he'd slept, the genderbend had reversed itself because he was once again a guy. Letting out a relieved sigh, he leaned his head back against the headboard. He'd told Hiro that this would probably reverse on it's own, and now it had! Part of him wants to wake his little brother up to tell him the good news, but then he decides that it would probably be best to let the poor little guy have some sleep-after everything they'd just been through together, he deserved it. Content that all was right with the world, Tadashi laid his head back down on the pillows, looking forward to his own restful night of sleep-

"You really shouldn't have don't that."

Tadashi's eyes snap open as his brain registers the sound of a voice. Sitting up in bed, he looks around, his heart pounding slightly as he tries to figure out where the sound had come from. Was he imagining things, or had he actually just heard someone talking?

"H-hello?" he calls but, hating the fact that his tone was obviously frightened. "Who-who's there?"

"Someone you really should have thought twice about before crossing," the other snarls, sounding part angry and, oddly enough, part hurt.

"H-Hiro, is that you?" Tadashi tries again, desperately hoping that his little brother was playing some sort of prank on him.

"You don't have a right to say that name," the voice growls in reply, sounding even more incensed than before. "Not after what you did!"

"What are you talking about?" Tadashi asks, cold fear squeezing his chest.

"I'm talking about when you tried to destroy me—when you tried to take me away from my son!" came the venomous reply.

This response made absolutely no sense to Tadashi, so he tries again, "Who are you?"

"As if you didn't know."

"No, I really don't!"

There's a pause in which the other doesn't respond, and then Tadashi suddenly becomes aware of movement coming from Hiro's side of the room. At first he can't really see much of the shadowy figure, but then the stranger steps into the moonlight coming through the window and Tadashi gasps.

"Recognize me now?" the other asks grimly.

"This-this isn't possible," Tadashi stammers. "You're-you're me!" And it's true. What he's looking at is and almost perfect replica of himself. The hair was perhaps a bit longer, the body a tiny bit more muscular, a pair of glasses rest on the bridge of the nose, and there are definite signs of aging on the face and in the eyes. But there's no doubt that whatever or, rather, whoever, he's looking at is his veritable twin.

"I'm a part of you, yes," the other Tadashi agrees, bringing him back to the present. "Or at least I was a part of you."

"But—why? And how?" Tadashi cries, running his hands through his hair and feeling completely freaked out. "I mean, is this even possible?"

"Well, usually different aspects of a person's personality don't manifest themselves in a visual form," the other Tadashi replies, his eyes darkening slightly as he continues, "but considering the fact that you tried to destroy me earlier today, I think I'm well within my rights to do this."

"You keep saying that I tried to destroy you," Tadashi blanches, feeling slightly panicked by the amount of raw anger he can hear in the other's voice, "but I don't remember doing anything like that—oh. Oh no." His eyes go wide as memories of earlier that night come back to him. Suddenly he knows exactly who he's dealing with. "Oh no oh no oh no. Are you-?"

"Your Papadashi side?" the other replies with a mirthless smile. "Yes."

"Papadashi…?" Tadashi asks, raising a confused eyebrow but having a pretty good idea of what the apparent figment was talking about.

"Well, that's what Hiro used to call us when he was younger," the other Tadashi explains coldly. "I'm the side of you who sees Hiro as your son." He moves closer to the younger Hamada's bed and looks lovingly down at the sleeping form. "He's so beautiful," he murmurs softly, his expression changing as he reaches down and lovingly brushes a few strands of hair off of the boy's face. "I can't believe how fast he's growing up…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Tadashi cries, part of him worried about the idea this particular aspect of his personality being near his little brother, but the other part of him jealous of the intimacy the other was showing towards Hiro.

Other Tadashi, or "Papadashi" as he had identified himself, looks up, as if registering Tadashi's feelings, and smiles slightly. "Good," he says, his eyes flashing. "There's still hope for you if you're willing to fight for Hiro."

"Wait—hope for what?" Tadashi asks, wrinkling his brow in confusion and feeling slight frustration welling up in him. "Look, I'm sorry if you're upset about me trying to get rid of you, but I did it because it's best for Hiro. It's not safe for him to have me keep trying to be his dad!"

"Best for Hiro, or best for you?" Other Tadashi counters, giving him a scathing look.

"For Hiro!" Tadashi replies, although somehow his answer sounds weak even to him.

Other Tadashi looks at him as if disappointed. "I thought you were better than this," he says after a moment, shaking his head slightly. "I thought that you had enough sense to see the truth when it was right in front of you, but I guess I was wrong. So even though I didn't want to have to do this, it looks like you're not leaving me a choice."

"What are you saying?" Tadashi starts to feel afraid again, but then suddenly gets a boost of confidence as a thought hits him. "Wait, you're just a part of my subconscious—a figment of my imagination. I can get rid of you whenever I want." He smirks slightly. "Nice try, but you're not going to get me to change my mind that easily. I'm not going to put Hiro or myself through this again."

"Oh Tadashi." Instead of seeming to be even the tiniest bit intimidated, the other appeared to be slightly bemused. "That was your first mistake. You thought that you could just throw me away without any consequence? Well, you're dead wrong. Hiro's my son, and I will fight to the death for him if necessary. I know deep down you understand this and you feel the same way, but since you're being stubborn, I'm going to have to be creative with how I show you the truth. And while it's technically just for educational purposes, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm seriously going to enjoy it."

"What are you going to do?" Tadashi asks, his mouth going dry.

"You tried to take my son away from me, so I'm just returning the favor," alternate Dashi answers with a grim smile. "For one day, I'm taking control of the body—I'm going to have my day with Hiro, and hopefully after I'm done you'll finally get it through your thick skull just what Hiro means to us."

"And if I don't 'get it' by the end of the day?" Tadashi counters, trying to sound more confident than he feels.

"Well then, I'll just keep extending this out until you do," other Tadashi replies, giving him a mirthless look. He glances over at the clock on the wall before looking back and adding, "You know, it's not too late to change your mind. You could just let me back into your schema of how you view Hiro and we could dispense with all of this."

Tadashi battles momentarily with the concept—wouldn't it just be easier to start seeing Hiro at least partially as his son again? Would that really be so bad? But partly because of stubbornness and partly because, deep down, he really wanted to be proved wrong, he shakes his head. "Let's do this thing," he says, looking the other Tadashi directly in the eyes.

The older version of him has a funny smile on his face, as if he can see the latter part of his motivation and approves of it, before nodding and checking the wall clock again. "Let the clock state that it is 3:34 am," he announces in an official sounding voice which carries a great deal more power and authority than Tadashi would have ever pictured coming out of the other's or even his own mouth. "By the ancient laws, let the 24 hour period commence."

Tadashi feels a sort of warm sensation rushing over him, almost like being submerged by a crashing ocean wave. He closes his eyes against it, and then—

Tadashi blinks his eyes open, staring around the room in a state of shock and amazement, as if seeing it for the first time. Then he looks down at his hand and articulates each finger, as if testing out his own abilities.

"It-it worked!" he finally gets out after a moment. "It worked! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it, it actually worked!" Part of him wants to a victory dance right then and there, but he resists the urge since he needs to keep the volume down to keep from waking his musuko—oh, how amazing it was to be able to think that without being stifled! He whispers the name quietly aloud, just because he could—musuko. He can't help but smile like he'd just won a million dollars-which he sort of has, only the prize he had won was worth much more than anything money could ever buy. He'd been able to go part way before, back when he'd been a fully integrated if somewhat unwanted part of regular Tadashi's psyche, influencing decisions and occasionally overriding ideas about societal norms and codes of conduct to get Tadashi to be more loving and open towards his little brother. But now—now he had complete and total control for a whole day! Most people in his position wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Almost anyone who had found this sort of freedom after years of being ignored and stuffed away into a dark corner would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. But no—he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to take full advantage of this one day, and that meant spending each and every second with Hiro. First thing on his list was actually being able to hug his musuko fully and of his own free will. Being as quiet as he can, he makes his way out of the corner of the room that belonged to the owner of this body and heads over to Hiro's bed. When he gets there, for a moment he just stares down at the boy, unable to fully believe that this child was truly his. And then, holding back a tiny sob as the emotions overwhelm him, he sits down on the edge of the bed and gathers the still sleeping boy up into his arms.

"Oh, Hiro," he whispers, burying his face into the raven colored thatch of hair and nuzzling him close, "I'm here. Papa's here, and you're never going to lose me again."

Hiro wasn't quite sure if he was awake or asleep, voices filtered in and out of his brain that sounded strangely like Tadashi. Why was he arguing with himself though? It didn't make any sense. Hiro felt a pair of arms lift him up and cradle him against their chest and whisper, "I'm here. Papa's here, and you're never going to lose me again." confusing Hiro. Wasn't his father dead? And the voice sounded strangely like Tadashi, but Tadashi wasn't his father, and he was a girl... Hiro tried to wake up, but he was so comfortable. He needed to figure out what was going on though. Whoever was holding him nuzzled him and started rocking him slightly. Hiro slowly pried his eyes open and looked up at Tadashi who was somehow a boy again.

"Dashi... you're a guy again..." Hiro sleepily mumbled. "That's good..." Why was Tadashi acting like this though?

"Hey." Tadashi smiles down at him, tiny thrills going through his body-his first time actually getting to talk to Hiro! "I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to check on you. It's okay, you can go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Hiro sleepily frowned and mumbled, "Check on me?... is there somethin' wrong with me?" Hiro was so tired, Tadashi's rocking was so soothing and he felt himself drifting off again. But he needed to know what was going on. Hiro snuggled against Tadashi, eyes growing heavy.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you," Tadashi answers, gently soothing him back to sleep. "You're perfect-absolutely perfect."

"M'kay..." Hiro mumbled, still slightly confused but getting too tired to care. Hiro buried his head in Tadashi's chest and let his eyes drift shut. "Love you Dashi..."

Tadashi doesn't even try to hold back the tear that rolls down his cheek. Oh, how long he'd dreamed of hearing those words! "I-I love you too Hiro," he finally whispers, hugging the boy close. Hiro was his now, and he was never, ever going to let him go.

Hiro didn't remember falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes next he felt much more awake. He felt a pair of arms tightly holding him and looked up to see Tadashi who was still a boy holding him tightly. Good that wasn't a dream.

"Morning Tadashi," Hiro greeted, wondering how long Tadashi had stayed. "Did you stay here all night?"

"Mm-hm," Tadashi agrees, looking down at Hiro with a soft smile. He had actually been awake the whole night. He didn't want to waste a second of this, and honestly he really didn't need to sleep, even in this mortal body, so he'd just stayed there holding his musuko until the little boy was ready to wake up.

"You didn't have to do that..." Hiro mumbled, slightly confused as to what prompted his brother to do that.

"But I wanted to," Tadashi replies, gently stroking his son's hair. Oh, how amazing it was to be able to do that!

"Ok... did you sleep well?" Hiro asked, wondering what was up with Tadashi. "Any idea why you're a boy again?"

Tadashi decided to neglect to answer the first question, merely answering the second with, "I told you that genderbends usually work themselves out in their own time, didn't I? It just wore off during the night."

"I guess..." Hiro agreed, still weirded out by the whole situation, "You feeling ok bro? You're acting... different."

"I'm just happy to see you, bud," Tadashi answers, ruffling the boy's hair. He plans to tell Hiro the truth-but all in good time. For now, better not to let him get too suspicious. "So, do you want breakfast?" he asks with a bright smile. "I'll make anything you want."

Hiro's stomach growled and Hiro laughed, "Hmmm I think my stomach answered that for me. Pancakes sound good though."

"Then pancakes it is," Tadashi agrees, happily nodding his head and starting to get up. "Do you want to help me?"

"Sure," Hiro agreed standing up and following Tadashi down the stairs.

"Can you get out the bowls and mixing things while I get the ingredients?" Tadashi asks once they're in the kitchen, seriously looking forward to this first time getting to make breakfast with his son.

"Sure!" Hiro replied, trying to reach the cupboard with the bowls, only to find that he was, still, too short. Huffing in annoyance, Hiro jumped up onto the counter and started to reach up to grab the bowl only to slip and fall. "Ahhh!"

"Musuko!" The word bursts out of Tadashi's mouth before he can even think about it, but there's no time to take it back. Instead he rushes forward to catch Hiro,swooping him up protectively into his arms. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" How could he have been so careless? He should have known that Hiro was too short to reach the bowls! From now on he swears that he is going to do everything in his power to make sure that Hiro never gets put into a dangerous situation again.

Hiro blinked in surprise and whispered, "You called me Musuko..." Tadashi would never call him that... unless those times Hiro had been imagining it where real... Hiro's head hurt.

Well, this had come out sooner than Tadashi had hoped, but maybe now was as good a time as any to talk to Hiro. Still, though, wanting to push it out a little bit longer, he just answers, "Hiro, you just took a major fall! We should probably get you back up to bed until we're sure that you're okay!"

"Tadashi I'm fine!" Hiro snapped. "What was that musuko thing about?"

Part of Tadashi wishes that he hadn't spilled the news so early. Another part of him, however, was somewhat glad that he was finally going to be able to talk about this-the very thing that that other coward had been too afraid to ever talk about. "Let's sit down at the table," he finally says softly, moving to set Hiro down in one of the kitchen chairs.

Hiro looked at Tadashi in confusion, why was he carrying him like a baby? "OK what's going on?" Hiro asked, once Tadashi settled him in one of the chairs.

"Hiro..." Tadashi tries to think of how to best say this, also working to keep from letting his eagerness show. How could the original Tadashi have kept this all inside for so long? Either he was stronger than he'd looked or else he'd just enjoyed inflicting pain on himself-possibly both. "There's something I need to tell you," the current Tadashi says after taking a minute to choose his words. "And before you think that I'm just going off the deep end, I want you to know that I've been thinking about this for a very, very long time-almost since you've been born, in fact. For as long as I can remember, it's mainly just been you and me. Our parents...they were always gone, even when they were alive. And Aunt Cass, bless her, she tries, but-it's never been quite the same, you know? But me-I've always been the one to take care of you. To be there for you. To love you like you were my own. Do you...think you understand what I'm saying?"

"Wha-... I... so you see me as your son?" Hiro asked, feeling had never acted so fatherly before. Where is this coming from? A part of Hiro was happy Tadashi cared so much, another felt horrible for letting Tadashi take his fathers place, and another still wasn't sure how he felt about Tadashi not being his brother. He wanted Tadashi, not a new father.

"Is that really such a bad thing?" Tadashi asks, taking Hiro's hand in his own and searching his eyes. He'd thought the boy would be happier about this! "I think we've honestly both seen this coming-I guess this just seemed like the right time to finally tell you. I mean, when we both had that same dream a couple of nights ago..."

"How do you know about the dream?" Hiro asked, yanking his hand out of Tadashi's. He'd never told him or even hinted at the dream! What was going on?

"Hiro, the two of us were just barely managing to keep from saying anything about it that morning," Tadashi responds calmly. "It wasn't that difficult to figure it out-you know that I called you musuko that morning, and I heard you calling me papa too."

Everything about this felt _wrong_. The way he was acting and talking just didn't feel at all like Tadashi and it scared him. "No, no way. This... no... I don't know what's going on but... y-you are not acting like my brother." Hiro stammered standing up and backing away from him.

"Hiro, please, you have nothing to be scared of," Tadashi pleads. How was this going so wrong? "I'm just being honest with you-I love you! I thought that you loved me too."

"I don't know who you are but you're not my brother!" Hiro shouted. "I love Tadashi, bring him back!"

"Hiro, I swear to you that I am Tadashi," the older boy answers, getting up out of his chair but not following Hiro-he doesn't want to scare him.

"No...you're acting _nothing_ like my brother..." Hiro whispered, getting more terrified by the second. "Where is my brother?"

Tadsahi grimaces slightly. Apparently Hiro wasn't going to believe him-well, tough. He had told him the part of the truth that would be easy to hear-if he was going to be like this, he was going to get the full truth, like it or not. "I'm not lying to you-I am Tadashi," the elder finally answers, his voice going slightly cold. "I'm just not all of Tadashi."

"What do you mean not all?" Hiro asked, feeling sick. What had this monster done with his brother? "What did you do to Tadashi?" His body started trembling, horrible ideas flashing through his mind. He just wanted _his_ Dashi back.

"I'm the part of Tadashi that sees you as his son-the part of him that's been taking care of you since before you were even old enough to even say my name, the part that's cared for you and loved you through everything, the part whose stayed strong for you no matter how hard things got!" Tadashi replies folding his arms over his chest. "And as for what I did to him? Oh no, I didn't have to do anything. That coward turned tail and left. He _left_ you, Hiro! I tried to talk him out of it, but apparently he'd finally had enough. Just turned the controls over to me and that was it. For all I know, he's gone and he's never coming back." Tadashi gives the younger boy a grim smile. "You and I both know that he was having a hard time staying afloat-I guess he didn't want you to be left without anyone when he just couldn't handle things anymore."

"N-no..." Hiro whispered, eyes turning misty. "Y-y-you're lying! Tadashi wouldn't just leave me!" Hiro screamed, unable to stop the tears from falling. "I don't know who you are but let my brother go! Give. Him. Back!" This monster kept saying he loved Hiro, but Hiro could never love whatever it was that was using Tadashi's body. The twisted smile on his and the dark look in his eyes made Hiro want to run as far away as possible. But he couldn't. He had to save Dashi.

Tadashi begins to feel his resolve slip. This was all actually going fairly to plan-deep down inside he could feel the real Tadashi starting to wake up, definitely a good sign. But honestly, he hated to keep pushing Hiro like this. No, though-he'd have to keep going if this was all going to work out, both for Hiro and the real Tadashi's sake.

"Hiro, I know this is hard," he begins, stiffening his resolve and taking a few steps toward the boy, "but think about it. That Tadashi may be gone, but you still have me, and I'm much better than he could ever be! Hiro, I love you, and I would never, ever leave you! Just think of what we could do together-we could have a fresh start! We could go somewhere where it would just be the two of us, and we could have all the inventing workshops that you wanted. No more Tadashi being gone because of stupid things like school or responsibilities. No one would ever bother us again! Isn't that what you wanted?"

Hiro was immediately repulsed by the thought. What about Aunt Cass, what about _his_ Tadashi? "Not with you," Hiro growled, glaring daggers at the thing using his brother body. "I know Tadashi, _my_ Tadashi, would never leave me. He loves me and I-I love him more than anything and I won't give up on him, just like he never gave up on me. If you actually loved me, you'd let my brother go."

"I already told you, he's _gone_!" Tadashi shoots back angrily. "Get it through your head-he is gone, and he is never, ever coming back! Not unless he does something which I honestly doubt he'd ever do, and even if he did it, I don't know if you'd even want him back afterwards."

" _Shut up!_ " Hiro shouted. "Even if he ran away, which I don't believe for a _second_ , I'd still want him back! He's my brother and I love him more then anything in this entire universe! I won't let you take him away from me! Now Let. Him. _Go_! Or I'll make you!"

"Oh, he can come back as soon as he wants," Tadashi agrees with a twisted smile. "I'd even be willing to let him cut the 24 hour period we agreed to short if he fulfilled his end of the bargain-but first he has to actually be willing to do so, and I seriously doubt that he's ever going to be able to do it, which means that I'm in control indefinitely."

"Tadashi!" Hiro shouted, tears falling freely again. "If you can hear me come back! I need you! I don't want this creep, I want _my_ brother back! Please don't leave me!"

Way deep down inside, the actual Tadashi had been drifting in a sort of state of unconsciousness. It hadn't been unpleasant, but there was no sight, no sound, just...nothingness. Then, suddenly a voice broke through the darkness-Hiro's voice. At first he couldn't hear much, but he could tell that Hiro was upset. What had him so upset? And then actual words started to trickle down-"Tadashi wouldn't just leave me!" "He's my brother and I love him more then anything in this entire universe!" "Let him go!" There was a lot of another voice-his own voice, he realized, but not exactly his own voice. It was much darker, much colder.

"Papadashi," he realizes with a start. "Oh gosh, what have I done?" He feels an intense sense of panic. What exactly was Papadashi doing? At first he didn't think that he could do anything about it, though-he was stuck for the twenty four hour period. But then he head Hiro actually start crying and calling out for him, and suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. His little brother needed him! "What are you doing to Hiro?" Tadashi cries, hating that fact that he felt so powerless-down here, he was only a voice. He had no strength, no way to force his way out, but he was going to use his voice to it's fullest extent.

Suddenly, someone appears before him-Papadashi, he realizes, who's looking at him scornfully, his arms crossed over his chest. "I think the better question is, what did _you_ do to Hiro," he returns, a slight sneer in his voice-he seems so much darker than Tadashi remembers, even from the night before. "You left your own brother. _Tsk, tsk_. And here I thought that you were just terrible at being a father to him. It looks like you're just horrible in taking care of him period."

"You tricked me!" Tadashi shoots back angrily, wishing that he had some way to punch this self-righteous jerk.

"You made the decision, not me," Papadashi returns coldly.

" .go. He wants me, not you, you-you-" Tadashi has to bite back some very colorful language that he wants to use to describe this demon.

"Aw, still too sweet to even curse?" Papadashi gives him a falsely pitying look. "No wonder you're too weak to even take care of Hiro."

Tadashi felt cold fear surround him. This guy knew exactly how to push all of his buttons-how to flip every single one of his triggers and turn him into a tiny ball of insecurity. " _Baka_ ," he finally spits.

"Hm...weak, but at least it's something." Papadashi gives him a slightly amused look. "And hey, you're free to take back control whenever you want."

"I am?" Tadashi can't help but feel suspicious. It sounds too easy.

"Oh sure-as soon as you're willing to admit to the fact that Hiro's your son," the other returns with a twisted smile.

"But he's not!" Tadashi cries. Why did this guy keep insisting on that? It was true, he had felt fatherly feelings towards Hiro-if anything, now more than ever. There was nothing more that he wanted to do than to be able to wrap Hiro up in his arms and keep him safe from this jerk, just like his own father would have. But no, he fights the urge back down. He couldn't do that to Hiro! Or, if he was being honest, he could do it, but he was scared to death of what the boy would think. He could never accept him if he did that!

"Your loss," Papadashi returns with an indifferent shrug. "Say goodbye to your brother, then, because you're never going to see him again."

"No, wait!" Tadashi cries, but he's already gone. _Oh gosh, what have I done..._

"Well, I just spoke to your brother," Papadashi says, returning to the room with Hiro, a slight sneer on his face, "and it's just like I told you. He's too weak-he wouldn't even fight for you. He doesn't care about you, he only cares about himself. He knows exactly what he has to do to get back to you, but he won't do it. How can you still love him after that?"

"You're lying," Hiro hissed glaring daggers at the man. "Why are you trying to keep him away from me?" What did this thing want? Why was he insisting Tadashi didn't want him? A dark part of Hiro wondered if what it was saying was true but immediately pushed the thought out of his mind. No, if Tadashi didn't care he couldn't have talked to Hiro about cutting, couldn't have helped him meet Mrs. Matthews, wouldn't have cared so passionately whenever Hiro felt unworthy. Hiro could _see_ how deeply Tadashi loved him just by looking in his eyes whenever he was speaking to Hiro. He could read his brother like a book, he could tell when Tadashi didn't like someone but was putting on a smile just to be nice, and though there were times when Hiro couldn't fathom _why_ Tadashi so passionately loved him, Hiro knew he did and that's all that mattered. Even if he didn't really love Hiro, he couldn't just let this thing keep using his body without his consent. "Answer me know _or you will pay!_ "

Shoot, Hiro was getting serious! Papadashi silently curses himself for letting it get this far. If the real Tadashi didn't get moving soon, both of them were in serious trouble! The last thing that he wanted was for Tadashi to have to return to an injured body-he didn't know what consequences there would be for that, but it wouldn't be good. So Papadashi pulls out the last fail safe that he had-the one thing that he knew would get Tadashi to respond. With as twisted a smile as he could muster, he answers Hiro in a deadly calm voice, "You can do what you like to me, Hiro. But like it or not, at the end of the day, you are mine. You always have been, you always will be, and I one way or another I will have you."

Back down inside, Tadashi had been wrestling with himself. He couldn't believe what this demon was saying-trying to convince Hiro that he didn't love him when that couldn't be further from the truth! But his accusations-that Tadashi was a coward for not being willing to do the one thing that would bring the two of them back together-had sent him into a flurry of guilt and self-struggle.

 _I can't tell Hiro that I see him as my son!_

 **Well, that's the truth, isn't it?**

 _But Hiro obviously doesn't want me to be his dad! He's just made that very clear!_

 **Did he really?**

 _He hates this demon thing that's taken over me, the one that's claiming to be his dad, so yes!_

 **He hates it because it's not you. He wants his Dashi-all of you, his brother and his dad!**

 _But-I'm scared that I can't be all of that on my own._

 **No, you know you can do that. You're just scared of being rejected!**

 _Okay, I am! I'm scared of him rejecting me when he finds out the truth! Is that such a bad thing?_

 **Look at where you fear has put him and you, and you tell me! You don't have time to be scared anymore! Tadashi, it's time to man up if you don't want to lose him!**

Just as Tadashi's about to answer that, he suddenly hears Papadashi's voice saying very clearly, "Hiro, you are mine. You always have been, you always will be, and I one way or another I will have you."

.no. OH. HECK. NO! He had not just said that! There were few things that could trigger of such intense feelings in Tadashi, but this was probably the worst one-No one, absolutely _no one_ was allowed to lay any claim to Hiro but him! Hiro was his brother, he was his son, and anyone who tried to get in the way of that would have to face Tadashi's fierce and raging jealousy.

Okay, fine? Papadashi wanted a fight for Hiro? That's exactly what he was going to get! All previous fear and worry disappeared as Tadashi says the one word that he knew would end all of this: _"MUSUKO!"_

Yes! Papadashi's eyes flash with victory as he hears Tadashi's cry. Finally, they were almost there! Just a little bit further and they would be done with all of this! But first had to come what might be the most difficult part. Tadashi had admitted the truth to himself. But now he had to admit it to Hiro. Papadashi braces himself, knowing what's coming next-it isn't going to be pleasant, but he knows it has to be done. The splitting. He can feel it coming-the real Tadashi is gaining strength, is starting to regain control of the body. But Papadashi can't actually leave until his mission is complete, so he knows that any second now, he's going to be given the one thing he's always wanted but knows is also destined to be his downfall-his own form. With a great jerking pain, suddenly, he's ripped from Tadashi's body, and then there are not one, but two Tadashi's in the room, both on the floor, both gasping for breath, the one a bit older and with a pair of glasses on his nose, but both very much real and physically present.

 _Your move,_ Papadashi thinks with a grim smile as he looks over at his counterpart.

Hiro didn't think he could be any more terrified than when he'd thought his brother had been possessed by some demon, but he was wrong. He was now staring at two Tadashi's, uncertain as to which one was real, if this was really happening. A part of Hiro was wondering if he had lost his mind because this was insane! Hiro looked between the Tadashi's and noticed one looked older than the other. Determined, Hiro raced over to the younger looking one and collapsed next to him. Hiro started to reach out to him but froze. What if this was a trick?

"Dashi? Is that you?"

"Hiro, it's really me!" Tadashi cries, never having been so glad to be able to actually say his little brother's name before. He starts to reach out for him, but before he can, Papadashi somehow gets to his feet and effortlessly drags the younger boy across the room.

"Ah, ah, ah," he says, giving Tadashi a condescending look. "You didn't think you were getting off that easy did you?"

"Give me my brother back!" Tadashi cries, fighting down an anguished scream. Seriously, why couldn't this guy just leave well enough alone and let him have Hiro? He'd done what he wanted!

"Oh, your 'brother', is it?" Papadashi gives him another one of those smirks that wanted seriously made Tadashi want to slap him right across the face. "I guess you haven't learned your lesson yet, have you?" Despite Hiro's struggling, he's somehow managing to easily keep the boy pinned against the wall. He gives Tadashi a falsely pitying look. "If that's the case, then I guess the only thing I can do is hang on to Hiro for a little bit longer-"

That does it. Something snaps, and before he can even think about what he's doing, Tadashi lunges and manages to actually knock his doppelganger to the floor. "Hiro, get out of here!" he cries, not wanting his little brother to be caught in the crossfire as he struggles to keep the older version of himself down.

"I'm not leaving you along with that thing! Hiro shouted, not wanting to find his Tasdashi gone, not when there's something he can do.

Tadashi doesn't have time to fight with Hiro-he's having to fight hard enough to just keep this other thing from getting close to his otouto. Unfortunately, the alternate version of himself is stronger and seems to know exactly what he's going to do, so trying to keep him down is near impossible. But that doesn't mean that Tadashi isn't going to do his best-either he's going to save Hiro, or die trying (which he very well may end up doing the way things are going.)

"You can fight all you want," Papadashi hisses as he and Tadashi roll out towards the middle of the living room. "But you know that in the end, I will win this. You can try everything you want, but you know that you won't be able to defeat me. You'll never be able to stop me from making Hiro my son!"

"You can't have Hiro!" Tadashi yells, fresh anger rushing through him as he manages to get on top and struggles to keep Papadashi pinned to the floor. "He will never be your son!"

"And why not?" Papadashi sneers, his tone challenging as he glares up at the younger version of himself.

Tadashi feels his chest go cold and the old fears come clawing back in as he looks over at Hiro, who's watching them with large, scared eyes. No, he can't say it—he can't—

Then he looks down at his opponent and realizes that it's this very fear that's put Hiro in this danger in the first place. Suddenly, the tiny rebellious spark that had been flickering in his heart since earlier bursts into full flame and, with passion blazing in his eyes, he says with more confidence than he's ever had in his whole life, "Because he's my son. He always has been, he always will be, and I'm just sorry it took me this long to realize it." He smiles over at Hiro, not sure how the boy was taking this but honestly not caring—he'd finally done it. He'd said what was in his heart, and nothing had ever felt so good.

Hiro could hardly believe what he was hearing. Tadashi thought he was his son? A part of Hiro was thrilled at the thought, but another was terrified that he'd lose his big brother in all of this. Hiro knew Tadashi would want him to say _something_ in response to his declaration, but in the moment Hiro wasn't sure what he could say. So all he could say was, "I love you too Dashi."

Tadashi's about to reply, when suddenly Papadashi suddenly stops fighting him and, to Tadashi's utter amazement, actually smiles. "Well. You finally got it. It certainly took you long enough."

"Wha-what?" Tadashi stammers, confused. "But I thought you were—"

"That I was trying to take over permanently?" The other grins back at him. "No. Actually, I was just trying to get you to this point so that I could finally leave."

"L-leave?" Tadashi, in his shock, sits back on his heels, allowing his double to actually sit up. "Y-you're not making any sense!"

"It's simple, really." Papadashi looks between him and Hiro with a slightly sad smile. "My time here's up. I was only meant to be here for long enough to help you get through the rough early times—to be a source of strength for a little boy who had too much responsibility suddenly put on him by his parents' death. But I was never meant to be here forever. I was just meant to help you finally reach the point where you could do all of this on your own. And Tadashi, today you have more than proved that you are capable of loving Hiro as your brother and your son without me, and I couldn't be more proud."

"Wait, what do you mean? Where are you going?" Tadashi asks, scrambling to his feet as the doppelganger gets up.

"Like I said, it's time for me to finally take my leave," Papadashi replies with a half-smile. "I've long outstayed my welcome—I was never meant to be here for this long, and I'm more than ready to go to my eternal rest." He walks over to Hiro and gets down on one knee in front of him. "I'm sincerely sorry that I had to put you through everything I did today, but I want you to know that I never meant you any harm and that I was only trying to help the both of you. I meant everything I said about loving you, and even if it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for, I'm so grateful that I finally got to spend a day with you. I can't be with you anymore, but I-I'm going to really miss you." His voice cracks slightly as he says this, and he gives the boy a quick kiss on his forehead before getting to his feet and turning away to briefly wipe his eyes. After a moment, he turns back and offers both Tadashi and Hiro as bright a smile as he can manage, although it's obvious that it's somewhat forced. "It was an honor working with both of you. Please, keep taking care of each other, and never lose what the two of you have. It's truly precious."

Tadashi nods to the figure, unable to find the words to express what he's feeling. For so long, he realizes, he's relied on the spirit to help him get through the hardest moments, but now, as he looks over at Hiro, he's finally ready to do this on his own. Papadashi seems to understand this as he appears much more at peace, giving the two boys one last wave before a breeze suddenly blows through the room and the figure disappears in a cloud of cherry blossoms.

As much as Hiro knew Tadashi would want him to forgive the thing that tried to take over his brother he couldn't. Despite the fact that he knew that thing wasn't going to hurt them, the terror he'd felt when confronting that thing was so _real_ it continued to send shivers down his spine. Hiro only hoped that this thing wouldn't permanently alter his view of his brother.

"That was... terrifying..." Hiro whispered, shivering slightly. "But at least it's all over."

"Y-yeah," Tadashi agrees, shaking his head slightly. He looks over at Hiro. Honestly, as much as the whole encounter had shaken him, he was much more concerned with how it had left his little brother. "You doing okay?" he asks, afraid to reach out to him for fear of scaring him. The poor kid had been through enough, he didn't need to be traumatized further by Tadashi making sudden movements. Beyond that, Tadashi's honestly unsure of how Hiro's reacting to his confession. In the heat of the moment, it had been easy to say what was on his heart, but now... What if Hiro completely and utterly rejects him? He can't bear to think that he'd regained his otouto-his musuko-only to lose him all over again in a different but even more painful way.

"Why are you asking me that?" Hiro asked. "You where the one that was possessed!" As much as Hiro loved Tadashi, he could be an idiot sometimes. "I'm more worried about you."

"I just want to make sure that you're okay with-well, with everything that just happened," Tadashi replies, turning slightly red. "I-I'd never really planned on saying any of that stuff until I got pushed to my limits." Although, in reflection, he realizes that was probably the purpose of all of this-to get him to the point where he'd actually have to admit to his true feelings about Hiro.

Hiro ran a hand through his hair, thinking hard. He wasn't sure what he could say to his brother that wouldn't upset him. He just didn't know _how_ exactly he felt about this whole thing, it didn't bother him, that was for sure, he just didn't know where he felt in all of this. Did he see Tadashi as a father or was he just a really really good older brother?

"Honestly it's a lot to process..." Hiro finally admitted. "It doesn't bother me that you think of me like a son... I just... you're my brother... I just... ugg..."

"Hiro, you know that I'm always going to be your brother, right?" Tadashi answers, daring to reach out and take Hiro's hand in his. "It's just...I guess I couldn't help but starting to think of you like you were mine with everything we've been through. I tried to fight it for a really, really long time, but recently it's only seemed to make things worse between us whenever I freaked out over it. So...are you okay with me sort of being both-your brother and your dad?"

Hiro threw his arms around his brother and mumbled, "Of course I'm okay with it you nerd. What did you think I'd stop loving you or something? I just... you seem to really be my brother more than anything... is that... is that okay?"

"Hiro, of course that's okay! I want you to feel comfortable and safe whatever sort of relationship we have," Tadashi quickly responds, hugging Hiro tightly back and feeling extremely relieved. "Honestly, I don't really think it changes things what we call it-it's still the same sort of love, no matter what name we put on it."

"Good," Hiro sighed, hugging his brother back tightly. "Cuz I love you... even if you're a total nerd."

"And I love you, both as my otouto and my musuko," Tadashi responds, gripping him a little tighter. "Is-is it okay if I call you that sometimes? Not on a regular basis or when anyone else is around, but like when we're doing this?"

Hiro was silent for a minute before saying. "Y-yea... it's ok if you do..." Hiro only hoped Tadashi didn't expect Hiro to call him "dad".

"Thank you..." Tadashi whispers, feeling a wave of gratitude wash over him as he hugs his brother/son closer. He doesn't know exactly how comfortable Hiro is with all of this, but he's so grateful for the fact that the boy's willing to go along with it for his sake.

"I'd do anything for you Dashi..." Hiro whispered burying his head in his brothers chest. Though it made him a little uncomfortable, seeing how happy it made Tadashi was definitely worth it.

"You know that you're the only thing I could ever want out of life, right?" Tadashi says after a minute, tenderly stroking Hiro's hair. "Seriously, I could have absolutely nothing else, not a penny to my name, and as long as I had you I'd be the happiest person in the world."

Hiro felt his face turn bright red he mumbled, "You're such a dork..." Hiro was secretly pleased Tadashi held him in such high regard. Hiro squeezed his brother so he'd know Hiro was only joking.

"Yeah, but I'm your dork," Tadashi answers with a grin, giving his otouto a quick squeeze back. Then he frowns slightly as he suddenly hears a distant beeping noise. "Hey, do you hear that?" he asks.

"Yea I do..." Hiro mumbled, as the beeping continued to grow louder causing everything around him to grow fuzzy. "Huh? Tadashi wha-?" Everything faded away and he was left in darkness.


End file.
